The Englishman completed the opening lap in 17th place after starting 14th, but fought his way up the field with a three-stop strategy to take eighth place ahead of four-stopping Perez.
"It required a heart-stopping flight from Kinshasa to the regional capital of Kisangani, then 350km down a jarring, one-rut bicycle path on the back of a motorcycle.
Unlike in Edinburgh, runs tend to be short, with the town a stopping-off point for longer tours.
Once we caught up with one, it was heart-stopping stuff: I got within touching distance of this awe-inspiring animal, and saw manta rays, turtles and dolphins.
A CD of the music was released by the Nash last month, and next weekend comes the climax: a heart-stopping piece of history as they take the music "home", to Prague; to play in the Czech capital these great works written by Czech composers interned and doomed to the gas chambers; shoots of genius – and heralds of a great movement in modern music that never was.
Recharged, I crossed the border to Vietnam, taking a heart-stopping bus ride to Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta.
The contestants have spent the past month putting the finishing touches – a touch of Photoshop, a ton of glitter – on their show-stopping presentations.
There's nowhere for the boat to moor, so you have to leap on to the rocks, a precarious, heart-stopping feat that allows you to feel like an invader.
If you ask a class of drama students why they chose their subject, a majority will answer with an anecdote about seeing a heart-stopping production at a formative age.
Hibs found the Ayr goalkeeper, David Crawford, in excellent shot-stopping form but they struggled to consistently create chances and are now without victory in nine games.
