marathon des sable - from front to back

1 Copyright © 2012 Paul Jenkinson

27th Marathon des Sable – from Front to Back

By Paul Jenkinson

(Photos courtesy of Michael Jenkinson, Ahmad Fahmy and Darbaroud).

Preface

It was day four and we were not even half-way through the double-marathon stage of the “toughest foot

race on Earth”. We were at the back of over 800 racers. It was not supposed to be like this. We had gone

from the front of the race to the back during the day and we were now struggling to ensure we weren’t

going to be pulled out of the race. Three years of training and preparation had come down to whether

Michael (my older brother) and I could make the next checkpoint by midnight. We put on our heavy

rucksacks, Michael switched on his head torch but mine wouldn’t work – not a good sign. We set-off

alone into the darkness of the Sahara with one head torch as the sand storm kicked around us – we had

a cut-off to make but we still had 13 kilometres of sand dunes to cross. We had come so far and yet

there was still further to go…much further.

We hit the first major sand dune and I tried to push my sick brother up the climb but with every step I

just sank even more into the heart sapping sand. We slowly rose to the top and through breaks in the

sand storm could see mile after mile of storm tossed seas of sand – we would normally be in our

element, but not tonight. We slowly moved on, my brother weighed down by sickness and I was weighed

down by the extra water I carried in case we couldn’t make the safety of the next checkpoint. We

checked our compass bearing, we were heading toward 141 degrees – we hoped we were not drifting

too much in the storm away from our bearing.

We stopped at the top of the next dune and I gave my brother a breather for 30 seconds, but as time

was slipping away the breathers were to get shorter. We pushed on into the storm with one goal in

mind, Checkpoint 4, to make the cut-off and not get pulled from the race. But this was no longer a race,

for three days we had raced, planned strategy, when to go hard and when to hold back, but now this was

survival. As we’d fallen down the pack of runners we had seen the physically strong disappear and be

replaced by those physically much weaker, barely able to walk, but who had replaced their physical

strength with unbelievable mental strength. The question for me was whether we had the mental

strength to get through the night – sickness had robbed Michael of his physical strength so we were now

moving on will power alone. We disappeared into the storm, one agonising foot in front of the other; the

Sahara had us in its hold now, time ticked by and the sand kicked up, just one foot in front of the other…

______________________________


Introduction

The Marathon des Sable bills itself as the “toughest footrace on Earth” – it involves running (and walking)

across 156 miles of the Sahara in seven days fully self-sufficient except for limited water supplies you are

given during the day. To put the lack of water in context we would receive barely 5% of the amount of

water a typical Londoner would use each day. You spend seven days tired, physically exhausted, hungry,

dehydrated, dirty, in pain and stripped of everything you normally take for granted. We had entered

three years before (there is actually a waiting list to do this) and we were now starting Day 1 of the

Marathon des Sable (‘MDS’).

_____________________________

Day 1: 08 April - Ammouguer To Oued El Attchana – 33.8 Kms – Maximum Temperature 40°C

On the coach to the start we were given the MDS Road Book – the routes

and length of each stage we had to endure. The first day is usually around

20 km to get you warmed up – not this time. This year Stage 1 was to be

33.8 km – the longest first day in memory - so no gradual build into the

race for us.

We then started to look at the map and directions to see how the day

would pan out [key in the Appendix]. It was to be a relatively quick run East

from the Bivouac (B1 on the map) over sand to the first checkpoint (CP1)

but then the first of the climbs at 18.1 km followed by rocks and sand to

checkpoint two (CP2) and then a long hard climb up Tibert Jebel (to later

claim many runners) and then down to the finish at the Bivouac (B2).

1 Road Book - details of each stage


The map of the route (previous page) gave little indication of how tough the final climb up Tibert Jebel

(Jebel: means a mountain or mountain range). Tibert Jebel runs from K28 to K31 in the map – once you

are off it you can see the bivouac – although only 2.8 km away it proved to be an incredibly long way.

Our home for eight nights was nothing more than a bit of

canvas. If we had been at Glastonbury we would have looked

enviously at everyone else’s tent.

We were on the start line of the 27th MDS – there was my

older brother Michael and our tent mates Sam and Ben. We

had lost our other tent mates Harriet (‘Harry’) and Ahmad at

the scrum of the start and we knew that our final two tent

mates Tom and Owen (who were friends from school) were

struggling to make the start due to Tom’s sickness – it was

not a good start for them – and due to get a lot worse.

3 Tent Mates: Harriet (Harry); Tom; me; Ben; Ahmad; Owen; Michael; Sam

We had already made the customary race number –

27 – this year being the 27th MDS. We were right on

the top of the 2 in the middle. The waiting was getting

worse. There were more briefings and warnings and

the start was almost ready.

The founder of the MDS Patrick Bauer gave us some

final instructions on top of his jeep – it was going to

be a hot one, over 40 degrees at times and long at

33.8 km with one very large climb. The Iron Maiden

tune, “Road to Hell”, which was to accompany every

start, thumped out:

“Slowly bleeding, watch the vortex feeding

Like a swirling vulture on your face

Every hour the unseen rays devour

Your screaming eyes cry out but they are blind

Father, forgive me my sins

Give me the nails,

I'll hammer them in

4 The customary race number - 27th MDS

2 The Berber tent - our home


The road to hell is full of good intentions

Say farewell, we may never meet again

The road to hell is full of good intentions

Get on the left-hand highway with no sinister regrets

Brave new world of secret fantasy

That hovers just beyond your bloody grasp

Close enough to thrill, the danger of the kill

Price for failure of your will

Father, forgive us our sins

'Cause we're all the junkies who never can win”

The words were definitely apt, “every hour the unseen rays devour” and “price for failure of your will”

would ring in our heads later in the race. The race was about to start and two helicopters hovered

overhead plus a small remote controlled helicopter with a video camera attached – although I think the

pilot of the blue helicopter seemed to think he could get closer to us than the small remote control

helicopter – there is obviously no air traffic

control in the Sahara.

The 27th MDS was underway and the cheers went

out from the excited racers. Michael, Sam, Ben

and I started off at a reasonably strong pace. That

was until my rucksack broke and Sam had to

answer a call of nature (not the best thing to do

with three helicopters filming from above in the

middle of the desert). A couple of minutes later

rucksack sorted and bladders emptied we were

running again. The four of us kept up a good pace

averaging around 8 km/h. The four of us had all

done ultras before, three of us had done Ironman triathlons and normally 8 km/h would be an extremely

slow pace – but this was the MDS, slow and steady was

the order of the day especially when you were running

over sand in extreme heat and carrying a large rucksack.

The four of us all had different rucksacks and had

packed different kit for the week of self-sufficiency. My

tactic had been to go as light as possible – and then a bit

lighter. Two years ago I asked our club members

(Serpentine) advice for the MDS as I knew some had

done it before. The advice that stuck in my mind was

“the biggest luxury you can take to the desert is a light

rucksack” and this was the mantra I had lived with over

the previous year of refining my kit choices. I am not the

largest, only 5 ft 7 and 63 kgs and I knew I couldn’t carry that much so my goal was to get as close to the

minimum allowed weight of 6.5 kg for the rucksack (prior to another 1.5 kg of water).

5 One of two helicopters tracking the race

6 Stunning desert paradise


The run to the first checkpoint was incredible – after three years of planning we were actually doing the

MDS. The first part of the race took us through a deserted village with palm trees and sandy paths – it

was everything we had imagined. A few Moroccan children ran alongside asking for food and presents –

unfortunately we had nothing to give but a smile. The children all wanted us to high five them but we

had been told to avoid this due to the risk of disease – at the start of the race I think the concern is that

we would get sick from them but toward the end of the race I’m sure the advice was to protect the

children.

We made it to CP1 in very good time, around 1 hr 40 minutes, an average of around 8 km/h – if we could

keep that pace going we would place very high. But I knew it was not sustainable as the terrain would get

harder and our legs weaker. At CP1 there were banners and flags to signal we had arrived – we filtered

into one of the five lines to get our water (I was number 448, Michael was 447). Our punch card was

punched and we received our 1.5 litre bottle of water – not much after 1 hr 40 minutes of sweating in

the Sahara. The bottle had our race numbers written on it – this served two purposes: firstly so you knew

it was yours (this is critical given the preciousness of limited water); and secondly so that any bottles

found on the course (discarded) could be identified and the runner penalised with a time penalty. The

race aims to leave the desert as clean as it found it – although I think clean is probably the wrong word as

the desert is quite dirty – I think the aim is to leave it as we found it.

We filled up our water bottles and any spare water was poured over our heads under our caps to try and

give us some respite from the heat. We took another two salt tablets something which was to become a

crucial habit over the next seven days. An average person loses about 0.6 grams of Sodium per hour in

the heat – mine had been tested at Kingston University and I was slightly less than this. The organisers

had given us 120 small salt tablets and we were told to have two tablets per 1.5 litre water bottle and

although I was told I needed less I took the full amount just in case. Hyponatremia (lack of salt) is

probably more likely than hypernatremia (too much salt) so I took the salt.

We ran on toward CP2 and the first small climb. It was a relief to be on the climb and have the

opportunity to stop running and we climbed the small hill. Toward the top someone was already calling

for a medic and I assumed someone had fallen on the rocks. When we approached the casualty it was

just someone with cramp. I did think at the time that they were unlikely to make the finish if they were

calling a medic after a bit of cramp – but I’m not sure if that was me being a bit harsh.

As we got to the top of the climb Sam started to fall back a little and Ben started to get ahead and so for

the next few miles Michael and I ran along alone. We ran across a beautiful ridge and we could see one

of the many huge African plains out to the South – it was an amazing vista that even with tiring legs you

could appreciate in full.

We approached CP2 in good time and caught up with Ben as we exited the checkpoint. The three of us

ran together toward the Tibert Jebel and that climb. We arrived at the climb in reasonable shape

although we were now feeling the heat as it hit over 40 degrees. The start of the climb was steep

although there was at least a track to follow. Already we could see runners who had gone off too hard on

the side of the track resting from the effort of the climb. We later heard that five people had pulled out

during the first day and most were on this climb. One runner had been resting on the side of the track

and had passed out only to regain consciousness hanging from some rocks down the side of the

mountain – he panicked and nearly went over the main part of the cliff but was helped out by some

other runners.


The climb seemed to go on forever – false summit after false summit. Eventually we got to the top and

one of the Darbaroud crew (the organisers) said it was just 3km to the Bivouac – excellent news. Ben ran

ahead down the track and Michael and I decided to walk down the track as we knew how much the

steep descents can take out of your legs. We could see the Bivouac across the plain and it looked so

close. But this was not the case and it was an early lesson that in the desert the distance you think

something is away from you can be multiplied by three to get the actual distance – it looked a kilometre

away but it was three kilometres.

A lot of racers passed us for the next few kilometres as we aimed to preserve our legs for the next few

days and specifically our goal was to get to the double-marathon stage in as fresh a state as possible. We

caught up with Ben and he walked with us and he looked like the heat was getting to him a little

although he still looked stronger than us.

Michael and I knew from previous ultras that time on a double-marathon can disappear quickly and we

were confident that if we lost 10-15 minutes each day by walking the last 2-3 kilometres we could keep

our legs reasonably fresh with a proper cool down and possibly save us 1-2 hours on the double-

marathon stage (that was the strategy).

Eventually we crossed the finish line – we had done our first stage of the MDS. It had been tough but we

had both coped well with the heat and lack of water. Our cards were punched and we were given 4.5

litres of water for the rest of the day, the night and the morning – it already looked too little.

We made our way over to our allocated tent – tent 67 or “Chateau Soixante Sept” as it had been

christened. We then settled down into our post-race routine. First thing was to get the rucksack off,

remove the trainers and remove the taping off the feet, then a protein shake to aid recovery, then a

short stretch (not easy on rocky ground) then put the legs up to help the toxins drain from the legs.

About fifteen minutes later Harry (Harriet) came in looking as fresh as a daisy. Harry had done the MDS a

few years early and had placed well and she was now back for more. We were then concerned about

Sam as when we left him he was quite a while ahead of Harry, but Harry said she had passed him as

she’d come in and Sam duly arrived back at the tent a few minutes later. Sam had had a tough first day

and was looking tired.

I was pleased about our first day but I had learnt during the heat chamber work I had done with Tom and

Owen at Kingston University that you could have good days and bad days. During the heat chamber work

we also realised that you can never take the good feeling for granted and that you were always just a few

heart beats from feeling terrible. In the heat chamber Tom had felt really good one day and decided to

up the speed on the treadmill for five minutes and as a result his temperature and heart rate just crossed

some invisible line of suffering and Tom went from feeling great to terrible. This had taught us a valuable

lesson – you cannot afford to push hard in the desert – if you feel good, enjoy it and don’t use it as a

signal to increase the pace. I had also learnt that just because you struggle one day in the heat chamber

does not mean you cannot tolerate the heat as the next session you could feel fine. Sam had gone over

that invisible line on day 1 and he had suffered but I knew he could bounce back.

About twenty minutes after Sam came in Ahmad arrived back – smiling as ever. Ahmad had a different

race strategy than the rest of us – our strategy (mine and Michael’s) was to run where we could and walk

the hills and every 10-15 minutes walk a little to give the legs a rest and walk the last 2-3 kilometres to

let the legs cool down. Ben’s strategy seemed to be similar but with more emphasis on running, Sam


seemed happy to go with the flow. Harry’s strategy was very much run the whole thing at a steady pace

– no walking for Harry. Ahmad’s was very different due to an Achilles-tendon injury which meant he was

advised not to run. So Ahmad had decided to go for a power walking option – which he had practised by

power walking from London to Oxford (via a Police warning for power walking on rather too major a road

– I think he used the American accent to avoid a night in jail). Ahmad had made good time, an average of

6.15 km/h walking across the Sahara is extremely fast.

I had first met Ahmad doing an Ironman triathlon (or a Challenge branded race) in Roth in 2010 (we were

part of a Serpentine contingent). After the race I wrote a race report and it unfortunately highlighted

that Ahmad had swum slower than a drifting log in the 2.4 mile race. This had fired him up to get swim

lessons and make amends a year later at Ironman Austria. What I did not know at the time was that

Ahmad couldn’t swim at all before he signed up for the race. So he swore revenge on me by beating me

in this race by power walking – I laughed nervously and thought “well I’ve got a 40 minute head start

after Stage 1 at least”. The rivalry had begun!

Our attention turned to Tom and Owen who out of all of us were

the least experienced in distance events – but who seemed very

determined. Unfortunately Tom had been ill the day before,

possibly food poisoning, and had been sick all day and spent a lot

of it on the toilet (well above a hole in the ground). Tom had

struggled to even get his things ready in the morning to make the

start and we helped where we could but it was Owen who was

the real help. The day had been long, hot and hilly and without

food inside you and with being dehydrated at the start this was

going to be a long day for Tom and Owen. Privately my main

concern was the day after as I thought guts would get them

through today and I hoped they had enough left over at the end

to get up and do it again the next day.

While we waited for Tom and Owen we tried to sort the tent out.

The tent is not the sort you get on a normal camping holiday – it

is basically just a piece of thick black canvas with a couple of poles in the middle and four tent pegs at the

corner. The front and back were open to the elements and the sides would be too if it was windy. And

boy was it windy – the MDS usually has 1-2 days of strong winds, we pretty much had the whole week of

wind (and that wasn’t down to the food). So we went out looking for stones from around the camp to try

and pin down the tent so that the sides at least would not blow up in the wind. This took around an hour

and eventually we were happy that the tent would give us some shelter from the wind.

We also pulled back the old rug on the floor of the tent and removed the larger stones to make it more

comfortable – a routine we abandoned during the week as we got stone hardened (or more tired).

We went over to the results board to check our results and found out that Ben, Michael and I were 201,

202 and 203 out of 853. This was pleasing, we were higher than I had aimed at this stage – although I

knew it meant nothing as Sam was only 20 minutes behind but over 60 places back and by the end of the

race 20 minutes would only mean around 7 places.

7 Yoda hitching a ride with Ahmad


My personal goal the previous year was to get into the top 150 – which for someone who mainly did

Ironman triathlons rather than ultra-running was a stretch target. Achilles injuries had meant I had

missed a lot of run training in November and December which was very frustrating but I was getting

better and confident that this was still achievable. However, on Christmas Eve I was doing a 5 km off

road “fun-run” in Cheshire with my brother and his nephew and things changed. I had finally shaken off

my Achilles injury and I was able to run again, which was fantastic. I was at the front of the race 1 km in

and was flying but then I got a huge pain in my chest and was struggling to get enough air into my lungs. I

have asthma but this wasn’t an asthma attack so I slowed my pace but in hindsight stupidly carried on. I

am very competitive and I had wanted to get in the top five but I was losing places and I carried on

eventually finishing 14th out of 500. At the end I felt terrible and even my younger brother Mark

commented (without joking) that I looked terrible. I didn’t say anything immediately but I felt terrible

over Christmas. Eventually after many tests the doctors concluded it was probably a collapsed lung. This

was only 13 weeks from the start of the MDS and things were not looking good. A couple of weeks later I

asked the doctor if I could go back to light running and they said yes but to stop immediately if I had any

problems – so I went out with Michael and did the 45 mile Country-to-Capital ultra (again in hindsight

not the best thing). I was okay up to 38 miles (although the cold air was a struggle) and then walked the

last 7 miles and finished in a similar time to the previous year.

After finishing the Country-to-Capital I was more confident that I would get to the start line of the MDS

at least but my expectations had changed and I had settled for just finishing. My next big test was the

ECG I had to have in order to get into the MDS – I was worried that it would show up a problem but this

was thankfully not the case (unlike Sam who had to have additional tests). On top of this I’d already been

told by the MDS organisers that I couldn’t go a few months back because of my nut allergy and after

many letters and disclaimers and anxious waiting they had eventually let me back into the race. By the

start line I felt better and I had started with the hope I would get into the top 200-250. So after day one

being in 202nd place was very pleasing (given we had taken it relatively easy).

After a while we prepared our dinner for the evening, but we still waited anxiously for Tom and Owen.

Food in the MDS is one of the most crucial decisions you can make. Food is your friend, but weight is

your enemy. The minimum number of calories you can take is 14,000 calories (excluding any powdered

calories) – and I went for the absolute minimum plus six protein shakes for the end of each day to aid

recovery. This meant my pack was very light but also meant I was going to have to get by on around

2,000 calories a day – I was therefore expecting to lose 2-

3 kgs over the week.

I got my food out for the night some lovely dehydrated

spaghetti bolognaise (which was awful). I had taken the

dehydrated food out of the specifically designed cooking

bags and put into freezer bags to save weight (overall

this saved around 400 grams). Each of my freezer bags

was labelled with when to eat, what it contained,

calories, water required etc. I also did this for my snack

packs (the food I ate whilst racing) and this was a great

way to keep track of the calories I could eat each day. 8 Evening Meal - trainer is to stop it being knocked over


I took an old water bottle and cut it in half and placed the dehydrated food at the bottom and then

heated up 400 ml of water using a very small titanium stove and cooking pot. I had bought some

hexamine fuel tablets from the organisers – three packs (although I only needed two packs). I put four

small tablets (they were half the size of the ones we had in the UK) on the stove and heated the water.

Back in the UK I had practised this and had got nice boiling water but in the wind the stove merely

warmed the water. I placed the water in the bottom of the 1.5 litre water bottle I had cut with my

penknife. I stirred the food with my spork, which was a cross between a spoon and a fork. Later days I

would place the spork in the flames to clean it before using it again as it was easy to get food poisoning

out here in the heat. I left the food for five minutes – although there were not many flies I put the old

top of the water bottle over my food to protect it from flies, sand and try and keep it tepid. Eventually it

was ready and I added some salt and chilli powder I had taken but it was not worth it as it would have

taken more than Gordon Ramsey to make this even palatable. Some of my other freeze dried food was

better but this was the worst of the lot.

After I had eaten I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed – it was still very early but the night life in the

desert is not great. I had one blister to deal with on my right foot and kindly Harry, who is a nurse, and

who became known as Doc Tottie (the official medics were Doc Trotters and as Harry was the only girl in

the tent she got the Tottie label – humour becomes very puerile in the desert). Harry knew the standard

blister procedure and this involved bursting the blister then filling it with iodine to kill any infection and

to also cauterise the wound. It was then left over night and would be bandaged in the morning. This

worked remarkably well.

At that moment we heard Tom and Owen were about to finish and we went over to see them come in.

They looked shattered, well Tom did and he went to the triage medical tent and threw-up. They

immediately took him over to the proper medical tent and put him on a bed and assessed his condition.

He was badly dehydrated and not able to keep anything down. On the positive side they had made it in

eight and a half hours. It had been a very tough day for them and Tom had done amazingly well to get

through. However, my concern was the next day and whether Tom could recover enough to get through

another day of this. Owen came over to the tent and said how hard their day had been and how Tom had

been sick going up the Tibert Jebel. It was not looking good for Tom.

Michael and I went over to find Tom and found that he had been taken to the main Doc Trotter’s tent

(rather than the triage tent near our camp) – this was about 500 metres away (I’m not sure why it was so

far from our camp, maybe they were worried the screams would keep us awake at night). We found Tom

lying on one of the camp beds with a doctor looking over him. He looked remarkably well as I had feared

he would already be on a drip. He chatted and looked exhausted but not destroyed – maybe he could get

through tomorrow. Tom was cold and he needed to get some food inside him. Michael and I went back

to the tent and got some food and a jumper from his rucksack – this was when we realised Tom was

carrying a pack that weighed what seemed like twice the weight of mine (next morning Tom removed a

lot of food and other items to get the pack weight down – as did everyone else that night). We left Tom

with the jumper and some food. The Doctor said he should be able to go back to our tent soon –

although I think Tom was enjoying being in a proper camp bed with lots of nice doctors around him!


We gave Tom and Owen their email messages from

friends and family as these had been delivered to

tents at around 7pm. These were a great lift for all of

us. Each day we received a few messages from friends

and family and work colleagues and it lifted our spirits

and made us more determined during the day to race

well as we knew friends were following us. I received

a few jokes and riddles from my incredibly supportive

girlfriend Claire and I shared these around the tent.

Michael was not getting too many messages

unfortunately, not from lack of popularity but I think

mainly because he’s not on Facebook. A friend Cyril

and then Claire had been updating my status on

Facebook at the end of each day and this helped

prompt people to email me – it was very welcome

and I really appreciated friends taking time out of

their busy lives to drop me a message. At times though we did feel like prisoners of war on a forced

march receiving post only because of the Geneva Convention – we were looking forward to the Red

Cross parcels too but sadly these never came (except for the can of Coke on the rest day and a nut bar

which was about as useless to me as an ironing board in the desert).

We had already spent two nights in the tent before we

had started today. We had arrived in Ouarzazate from

Gatwick on Thursday 5 April – a Monarch charter flight

with 250 MDSers on board. We then had a five minute

coach trip to the Berber Palace Hotel (a five star hotel

in Morocco – although probably a four star in most

places). I had quickly filled in my Moroccan entry visa

and picked up my bag early. I texted Michael to say go

direct to the hotel to check-in as this could be a

nightmare as 250 people try to check-in together. I got

my bag and on to the first coach (some people jumped

in taxis to beat the queue). I sat at the front of the

coach to be able to get off first. We got to the hotel

and I raced to the reception desk and with Michael’s passport number checked us in very quickly and I

made my way to a lovely suite we had been assigned. Michael took another 45 minutes to get here as

the immigration computer had crashed and it had taken a long time to reboot the old computer system (I

think they had the program loaded on an old tape drive and it took a while before anyone could enter

the country).

The next morning we had been taken by coach (5 hours, with two stops and lunch) to a small village from

where we were transferred to a combination of old lorries and army trucks for the 3 km drive to our

camp for the next two nights.

10 Pit stop on the coach trip to the start

9 Ironing Board - yes he did carry it the whole way


At this stage we still had our suitcases with us but the

next morning we had to register and hand in our suitcase

for taking back to the hotel – so the next morning we

frantically chose our last bits of kit. At the last minute I

threw in four other snack foods just in case – a decision I

was later to be thankful for. At the camp they gave us

food although I had to eat my dehydrated food because

of my nut allergy – not much fun. The first two nights in

the tent were okay although not very comfortable. I had

asked to sleep on the end next to Michael so that I could

avoid the others in case they had been eating nuts. I had

checked my tent mates were okay with this before we

went and unfortunately called Michael a “nut buffer” a name he was to retain for the week (often

shortened to Buffy).

At around 8pm after the first stage Tom and Owen came back and then they had to start getting

themselves ready – something we’d done long before. We all felt for them and did not envy them having

to do it again tomorrow on an even harder and what was to be the hottest stage.

I got into my sleeping bag; it was much warmer than the first night we had slept when a lot of people

had complained about the cold. I felt I didn’t need a silk liner as my sleeping bag was rated to -1°C and

this was sufficient so I threw out the silk liner the next day (weight is more important than expense in the

desert). I had a small inflatable mattress which was okay and survived the rocky ground and although

light it was not particularly comfortable (Sam threw his away later in the race and slept on the rocks). I

had a small inflatable pillow as my only luxury although I later used the dish cloths I used to protect my

shoulders and stomach from the ruck sack as a make shift pillow (I put them inside my buff and used

them as a pillow and also as a knee protector on the rocky ground during the day). I also had a sponge

(like you would use to clean your car) in the bottom of my sleeping bag and this was useful for raising my

legs and keeping them off the cold ground.

We looked up at the incredible darkness of the night sky and the clarity of the constellations and we all

slept to various degrees, all tired and all knowing that this adventure had only just begun.

Day 1 – Race Results:

Tent 67 Stage 1 Pace (km/h)

Paul 4H49'28 7.05

Michael 4H49'28 7.05

Ben 4H49'28 7.05

Harriet 5H03'29 6.72

Sam 5H10'32 6.57

Ahmad 5H31'48 6.15

Tom 8H33'17 3.97

Owen 8H33'17 3.97

11 Trucks that took us to the Bivouac at the start


On the MDS website www.darbaroud.com they do a daily post stage update from the bivouac (Echo

from the Bivouac) and press release – both replicated below.

ECHO FROM THE BIVOUAC

Hot Action

In stifling heat (around 40°C in the afternoon), the caravan of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES set off on Sunday for a 33.8km long first leg. Whilst at the top of the race the champions ran in character - fast - for runners at the back, the objective was simply to get to the finish line.

Whilst Patrick Bauer [race director and founder] is briefing the 853 competitors of this 27th

Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, a drone flies over them. A technological marvel that will provide

a new type of image, ruffling the runner's hair – or rather caps. It's a new device on this edition,

broadening yet again the coverage of the event and enabling viewers to get even closer to the

runners' adventure. Over 40 journalists are following the week long race. Some have come from

South Korea, the United-States, Brazil or Poland. "Many Koreans dream of running in the desert,

says James Jang, a journalist from East Asia who works for many newspapers and TV channels.

The race is in full expansion in Asia. Next year, we should have 60 competitors from Korea, China,

Singapore, Malaysia and Hong-Kong." Such development is definitely encouraged by the

broadcasting of images. "Things have changed a lot since the first editions, says Pierre Fliecx, a

journalist and a former runner from the 1992 edition. But the spirit has remained the same. In the

early 90s, the media coverage was much slighter. Its vast increase gives the runners proper

recognition." Runners who are indeed at the heart of the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, a race

which has become over the years one of the world's adventure races boasting the widest

following.

PRESS RELEASE

Champions already at full speed

Number of runners of the start line: 853.

Today at 9.00am Patrick Bauer [started] the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES between Ammouguer and wadi El Aatchana. The first leg, 33.8km long, offered a variety of terrain with dunes, stony valleys and djebel Tibert as a conclusion. As was to be expected, the champions fully went for it: Rachid El Morabity (D1-MAR) won the stage 6’35’’ ahead of Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR), and 9’55’’ ahead of Jordanian competitor Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR).

In the women’s race, French runner Laurence Klein made a striking start by coming in 19’26’’ ahead of Jennifer Salter (D521-GB) and 26’18’’ ahead of Meryem Khali (D5-MAR). After today’s “warm up”, tomorrow’s leg will span 38.5km between wadi El Aatchana and Taourirt Mouchanne. On the menu, a dried-up lake and dunes: ideal to make the gaps bigger.

Men ranking. 1st : Rachid El Morabity (D1-MAR), 33,8km in 2h26’32’’. 2nd : Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR) 6’35’’ behind. 3rd : Salamaeh Al Aqra (D148-JOR) 9’55 behind.

Women ranking. 1st : Laurence Klein (D322-FRA), 33,8km in 3h19’22’’ 2nd : Jennifer Salter (D521-GB) 19’26’’ behind. 3rd: Meryem Khali (D5-MAR) 26’18’’ behind.

http://www.darbaroud.com/


Day 2: 09 APRIL - Oued El Aatchana to Taourirt Mouchanne: 38.5 Km – maximum temperature 54°C

We woke in the morning of day two and immediately I started to get my things ready. We were woken

by the daylight and one of the 4x4’s driving round the camp playing cockerel noises and rock music. No

alarm clocks in the desert. Although we had around two hours before we needed to assemble for the

start I got my things ready quickly. I put on my stove and prepared my breakfast. While the water heated

I put on my arm warmers and calf guards and running top and packed away my sleeping bag and

camping mat (they go at the bottom of the rucksack as you want the heavier food at the top of the

rucksack as then they are carried by the stronger shoulders and not the lower back). Inside my rucksack I

had a gravel sack to protect everything from the sand and any rain and also to stop items digging into my

back – this worked well and I was very grateful for it on Stage 4.

I then prepped my feet for the day – this involved taping the balls of my feet with tape and adding some

padding to my blister. My big toes and little toes were

also sore from yesterday so I padded out the nails to

protect them and taped them up. This takes time to

get right and as I was doing this the Berbers (the local

tribesmen hired by the organisers) came over and

lifted the tent off from over our heads – this they did

each morning (sometimes early, sometimes late as

they started at different parts of the camp each day).

We were then left sitting on the mat in the open air

which after the chill of the night was nice as the sun

slowly warmed us. The Berbers then took the other

tents down – in total there was over 100 competitor

tents to take down and around 50 other tents - and

they then had to be transported to the next camp and re-erected before the first person got there – a

monumental task each day. The Berbers were paid full European rates of pay during the MDS which was

a significant amount for them and their families.

The Berbers spoke a mix of French and Arabic – although I struggled throughout the week with the

French (it is not exactly Parisian French) and Ahmad who speaks Arabic would also chat away to them (I

think he was getting tips for the best route to take for his power walking), however Ahmad found the

Arabic was not exactly the same as his Egyptian Arabic but then there was over 2,000 miles between

them.

Once the feet were done and I had put on my toe socks

and second pair of socks I would pull on my Raidlight

gaiters, which were there to stop sand getting into

your trainers. They worked pretty well and unlike

previous years we had to wear them the whole time as

every day involved sand dunes. I then put on the

trainers and packed away the rest of my kit. I went and

got my 1.5 litre bottle of water from the centre of the

camp, which was to last me until CP1.

12 Remains of our tent each morning

13 Remote controlled helicopter


I would then clean my hands again using a disinfectant gel – I think the spray ones would have been

better but it worked fine. The desert actually has a lot of germs and keeping hygienic is really important

to avoid illness. Ahmad commented that the ritual Muslim Ablution, or cleaning before prayers made a

lot of sense in the desert. Finally ready, water bottles refilled, salt tablets and multi-vitamin taken I was

ready for stage two. Unfortunately Tom was still pretty ill and was struggling to get ready for the second

stage – again we helped where we could but it is not easy to pack someone else’s kit. It was then Owen

and Tom were given their nicknames. Owen had faithfully helped his friend and did it patiently and

uncomplaining and with a smile over his face. He was therefore christened “Samwise” the loyal

companion of “Frodo” from Lord of the Rings. So “Sam” and “Frodo” continued to get ready as time

ticked by – I’m not sure how happy they were about the nicknames.

We made it over to the start and got the final race briefing. The stage was to start with a mix of stony

parts, sand and sand dunes to CP1, then more of the same to CP2. After CP2 we would cross 10 km of a

dried lake bed before getting to CP3. We would then have sand dunes for the remaining 9.5km to the

Bivouac.


We set-off again with Ben and Sam – the four of us the same as the day before. We made good progress

to CP1 and then Sally, one of the girls from the tent next to us (tent 66) and who I’d met before we left

from London joined us. As we approached CP2 Sam started to struggle a little and said he was going to

hang back. As we got to CP2 we took on 3 litres of water (they had told us in the morning they were

giving us extra due to the heat) and Sam caught us up. We also saw Alison from tent 66 and this time five

of us left to cross the lake – Michael, Ben, Sam, Sally and me. The lake bed was long and very hot. We

set-off running 9 minutes and then walking 1 minute. After a while Ben and Sally got ahead of us slightly

and after a while they carried on ahead of us and Michael, Sam and I changed to 5 minutes of running

and 1 minute of walking. The lake bed seemed to go on for ever and we just kept going – we later found

out that crossing the lake bed was the hottest it had been all week at 54°C. At that temperature you

don’t sweat as it just evaporates immediately and you can almost feel yourself being desiccated in the

heat.

At CP3 we caught up with Ben and Sally and the five us carried on over the last set of dunes. By now the

wind had gotten worse and we were now in a sand storm. I suggested we carry on and try and pick the

pace up to get across the worse of the dunes in case we had to stop moving (the organisers force you to

stop if the sand storms get really bad and if you are in the sand dunes at the time you can lose a lot of

time). We made good progress and had about 2-3 km to go to the bivouac. Michael and I decided to walk

the rest again, to preserve our legs and Sam joined us but Ben and Sally cracked on and finished 12

minutes ahead of us.

We got back to the tent and the usual rituals ensued. Fifteen minutes later Harriet arrived looking just as

strong. Not much longer Ahmad, the Power Walker extraordinaire arrived. The six of us had arrived back


from 5 hrs 24 minutes to 6 hrs 9 minutes. We then thought about Tom and Owen out in the heat of the

day and hoped that they could continue.

A few hours later Harry had been checking Tom and

Owen’s progress with the organisers and we knew they

had made CP3 so we went over to the finish to see them

cross the line. We went to the organisers and they said

they were tracking Owen (number 449) but had no

details of Tom (number 499) this really concerned us as

we knew Owen would not leave Tom and therefore the

only explanation was that Tom had abandoned and

Owen had carried on alone.

We feared the worse – and the cut-off was only 15

minutes away. I went over to the reception tent to find

the list of those who had abandoned but they didn’t have Tom’s details. This concerned me even more

and I hoped he was okay. I tried to find out more information but the French organisers just said they

would be fine and they were probably going separately. I tried in my poor French to explain that there is

no way Owen would go on ahead of Tom and that they would stick together – this did not seem likely to

them, which was very strange, they said that if Owen was stronger why would he not go on ahead.

I spent some more time trying to explain but I was getting nowhere then one of the French girls said she

had just come from CP3 and everyone was through and I asked if they had seen Tom and Owen - she

wasn’t sure – then I remembered the thing that marked out Tom and Owen – their lurid pink gaiters. I

asked if the two Hobbits from the Shire in the pink gaiters were alright – “ahhh, the rose gaiters, oui,

they are fine, smiling but slow”. That gave me some comfort and I rushed back to the others who had

just seen some pink gaiters on the horizon – they had counted them, four gaiters – that meant Tom and

Owen were still together.

Myself and Ben ran to them to tell that they only had

four minutes to get across the line – in case they decided

to take it easy. They raised their pace, apparently, but

there didn’t seem to be much change. Fortunately they

were very close and crossed the line with two minutes to

spare, lots of time. Tom and Owen even managed to

sprint, well speed up, to cross the line. They looked tired

but in good spirits and I thought they were probably

over the worse of it now.

We all made our way back to the tent but as six of us got

into our sleeping bags Tom and Owen had to start

preparing their food for the evening – no rest for them.

In terms of places Michael had come 221st, I had come 222nd and Sam had come 223rd in the stage and

Michael and I had dropped overall to 207/208 – we were pleased with this and felt we had a lot left in

the tank. Tom and Owen were understandably at the back of the pack with Owen now half an hour

14 Dinner – lovely!

15 The camels that marked the cut-off time


ahead of Tom due to Tom taking another 1.5 litres of water on board (which incurs a 30 minute time

penalty). Owen had also done the same but for some reason his penalty did not show up. We were all

struggling with lack of water but for Tom and Owen in the sun for 10 hours it was worse. We knew that

there was a limit to how many water penalties you could take and we all said to Tom we would take

penalties for him if he needed additional water. We all struggled with the lack of water and we started

fully hydrated and Tom had started the race dehydrated from food poisoning and it was testament to his

mental strength and the help of Owen that he was still going.

I then made a trip to the medic tent to get my blister dealt with – it had come back in the same spot. I

walked into the triage tent and they just gave me a sterile razor blade, some tape and pads and iodine

and described how to deal with it. Do-it-yourself medicine – we wondered if the NHS in the UK would

bring this in “here is the scalpel, the iodine, morphine and instructions to remove your appendix –

scream if it goes wrong”.

We settled down to sleep that night – tired but enjoying desert life. By now Tom had started to look a bit

better with more colour to his face and he even started to dish out some banter which was good to see.

Only four more stages to go and I was starting to feel good for the double-marathon stage on Day Four.


Messengers of the desert

The sun is setting over the bivouac positioned at the heart of the El Aatchana wadi. Though the light is fading, the faces are lighting up. At the entrance to the tent, Hélène and Orlane, members of the dream team of bivouac stewards, arrive with their hands full. It’s time to distribute the post to each of the tents. On the evening of the first leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, nearly 5,000 emails have already made it to the South of Morocco. In the emails are children’s words to their heroes, to a Dad or Mum that has headed off to the desert, comforting words from friends and fan. They’re a real energy boost after each leg. And sometimes they’re enough to cause a few tears to trickle down the cheeks of runners whose emotions are running high as a result of the extreme conditions of the race. “At a time where everything is instantaneous and virtual, this sheet of paper with the emails is something concrete, like a hand-delivered postcard”, says Adrien, one of the members of Darbaroud, who’s in charge of printing everything out. “You can hold onto it, reread it, carry it with you in your bag. It’s traditional, like the spirit of the race.” “It comes as a great comfort after the day’s exertion”, explains Lionel Habasque (D276-FRA) from the Terdav Equinox Cogex team. “You see that your progress is being monitored in real time by a whole host of people. Ultimately we’re never alone when we’re running in the desert. Added to that, it’s really fantastic to receive news from your nearest and dearest in the middle of nowhere. Congratulations to the organisation.” By Saturday, some 40,000 emails will have been distributed. And doubtless a great many emotions shared.


Ben 5H24'19 7.22

Paul 5H36'21 6.96


Sam 5H36'20 6.96


Ahmad 6H09'30 6.33

Owen 9H54'20 3.94

Tom 10H24'20 3.75


PRESS RELEASE

The dunes make an entrance

At 8am. Hygrometry: 20%. Temperature: 20,4°C. At 12h. Hygrometry: 13%. Temperature: 38,7°C. Number of competitors on the start line: 849. Withdrawals from leg 1: 4.

Sandy patches, dried-up wadis and the first dunes were on today’s menu, together with a high humidity rate and extreme heat (38°C [at the start but it hit 54°C later on the dried lake bed]).

8.35am. The sun is already roasting wadi El Aatchana, where the second leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES starts. 38.5km will take the runners to Taourirt Mouchanne. At the front of the race, Al Aqra (D148-JOR) from Jordan takes the lead in the first dunes, in front of Ahansal (D8-MAR) and El Rachidy (D1-MAR). But 9km before the finish line, when reaching the dried-up lake that leads to it, El Rachidy moves to full gear: he catches up with Al Aqra and wins the stage with 2 minutes over his Jordanian challenger. Slightly behind, The French are doing well: Christophe Le Saux (D113-FRA) ends up in 9th position, 27’58’’ behind the winner. On the women’s side, Laurence Klein (D322-FRA) wins the stage again, broadening the gap between her and her contenders at the general ranking. Tomorrow the competitors will be enjoying stunning sights in the 35 km between Taourirt Mouchanne and El Maharch, where over 5km of magnificent sand dunes and long stony plains will make their day.

Men ranking 1st : Rachid El Morabity (D1-MAR), 38,5km in 2h50’22’’. 2nd: Salameh Al Aqra (D8-MAR), 2’14’’. 3rd: Mohamad Ahansal (D148-JOR) à 3’18.

Women ranking 1st: Laurence Klein (D322-FRA), 38,5km in 3h51’06’’

As I settled down that night I thought about the

other competitors. We were racing well but I

knew others were pushing themselves harder.

There was a blind man and his guide that were

doing what we were doing and racing well – that

was incredible in its own right.

There was also a group of firemen from France

who pushed/carried/hauled a wheel chair with a

disabled child in it (maybe 18 years old so not

light) – there were four disabled children and

they took it in turns checkpoint by checkpoint.

It was an incredible sight to see as they were

doing what we were but with the additional effort

of the wheel chair. This was fine on a dried lake

bed but on the double-marathon day we had a

mountain to climb and 27 km of sand dunes when

16 The blind racer and his guide (on the left)

17 Firemen and their passenger


the whole thing had to be carried. This was incredible.

Each day when the Firemen were due to finish their fire engine (yes they brought it along with them)

would rush around the camp with the sirens on and a lot of people would make their way to the finish to

cheer them on. There was not a dry eye in the finish line and it was one of the most inspiring things I’ve

ever seen. The four disabled children were in their element and they were having the time of their lives.

The Firemen were in tears as they finished each day and they would usually pick up and carry the three

other children not in the wheel chair across the finish line – unbelievable to see.

There was also an 80 year old who finished it and one of the British guys had been diagnosed with

testicular cancer two years before and it had spread to his lungs – he was only 23 but still made the start

line and importantly the finish line. It was truly inspiring to see what well motivated and gutsy people

can achieve and it also makes you slightly angry about the culture we have in the UK that seeks to

provide people with excuses for not achieving anything – disability or hurdles in life are there to inspire

you not to hold you back. I did think that rather than give people Asbos (Anti-social Behavioural Orders)

we should send them to the desert for a week – I think they would come back inspired, motivated and

with a feeling they could achieve anything no matter what had happened in their lives to date.

Day 3: 10 APRIL - Stage 3: Taourirt Mouchanne to El

Maharch: 35 km

We woke early and prepared ourselves for the third day –

a relatively short 35km (around 22 miles). The terrain was

going to start relatively easy with a false flat (a short

climb) up to CP1. It would then be a tough climb to the

top of the Zireg Jebel. It would then be a mix of terrain

including going along a Oued (pronounced wadi, a dry

river bed) to CP2 and then across a dry lake bed followed

by a rocky run to the bivouac. It didn’t look too bad as

stages across the Sahara went.

18 The famous pink gaiters


Our plan for today’s race (Michael, Sam, Ben and me) was to take it very easy and save the legs for the

following day – we expected to drop down the rankings as a result.

20 The Berber's stole our tent again

19 Ummm lovely food


21 Tom, Ahmad and me at the start

24 The smiles wouldn't last

25 Me, Sam, Harry and Ben

22 Third Stage

23 Ben, me, Michael, Sam and Harry


The course was relatively tough and Michael, Sam, Ben and I spent the first two CPs trading places with

Harry. The first part we had taken as a run-walk and then after CP1 we hit a long climb of sand – we

carried extra water at this point as the temperatures rose.

This stage had been relatively okay – we were all getting used to the heat and the terrain and our

rucksacks were getting lighter – although surprisingly they didn’t actually feel any lighter until the last

day (even though they were getting about 0.7 kgs lighter per day as we ate the food).

We walked past some old rocks and didn’t even notice

them and it was Ahmad who pointed out afterwards that

these were graves of the Berbers. There was one stone

for the head and one for the feet.

We finally crossed the line after 4 hrs 56 minutes and

Harry and Ahmad crossed 15 minutes behind us. It was a

tough day due to the wind which clawed at us all day. We

finished the stage around 240th but our overall places

had stayed the same, Michael and I at 207/208 (Michael

had briefly gone 1 second ahead of me but Claire had

emailed me so I got the second back on this stage). Ben

was at 190 and Sam was at around 230.

The leaders of the race were far, far ahead – although

the times dropped off quite quickly beyond the top 10.

The leaders were generally Moroccan with a Jordanian

to mix things up. They certainly looked like they

belonged in this environment – although for all we

knew they could be accountants from a semi-detached

house in Casablanca.

Tom and Owen had a better day and finished in 9 hrs 26

minutes – still a long day but they both looked happier.

We went to bed that night feeling good for the next day – the double-marathon. I had studied the course

and felt we could go quick early on and then settle down for the two dunes stages (between CP3 and

CP5) and then save ourselves for what looked like a fast final two checkpoints. I felt that if we could run

the last 20 km we could come in around 12-13 hours – a tough target but I felt it was achievable and

should see us break into the top 200, possibly around the 175 mark.


Ben 4H56'10 7.09

Paul 4H56'11 7.09


Sam 4H56'10 7.09


Ahmad 5H13'35 6.70

Owen 9H26'06 3.71

Tom 9H26'06 3.71

26 Berber graves (from long ago)

27 The race leaders’ tent



They weren’t short-winded

A long string of figures fighting against the wind on dried-up lakes, crossings of the magnificent djebel Zireg, and the narrow pass of El Maharch: such were the most striking images of the 3rd leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, that spanned 35km between Taourit Mouchanne and El Maharch. In extreme conditions, Moroccan runner Rachid El Morabity on the men’s side and French runner Laurence Klein on the women’s side won their third consecutive stage.

Doc Trotter. Ready, steady, care!

A blister, a pain in the lumbar region or in the joints? No problem. A quick snap of the fingers and the Doc Trotters are there to care… or almost! Just a few metres from the bivouac, a giant tent is on hand for competitors. The minute you’re across the finish line, twenty-two nurses and as many doctors lavish simple foot treatments or relieve more important issues with different traumas (joints, back…). Though 300 to 400 interventions take place on a daily basis, it’s on Thursday, on the second day of the long leg (81.5km), that the work really peaks, as Frédéric Compagnon, the head of the Doc Trotters confirms: “After a long leg, over half the competitors come along to see us. There is a huge amount of treatment of all kinds called for at this time”. Of course an important part of this treatment involves psychological support for competitors whose spirits might be a little low: “Our words play a role in the runners’ mental states. When they’re not doing quite so well mentally, we try to remotivate them so they can head off again the following day with a more positive mindset”, explains Fred Compagnon. And those that compete in the Marathon des Sables can certainly testify to this, such as François Laratta (D196-FRA). “Our feet are incredibly important in helping us to make headway towards the final finish line. The treatment they provide is a constant relief. And when spirits are a little low, the Docs give us a boost in quarter of the time and just seem to have the right words”. During the race, vigilance is also very high over the course, naturally, as well as at each checkpoint, where more treatment is lavished if need be. To set off on the right foot again, the competitors are clearly in safe hands!

PRESS RELEASE

At 8am. Hygrometry: 18%. Temperature: 24°C At 8am. Hygrometry: 16%. Temperature: 29°C At 12am. Hygrometry: 13%. Temperature: 31°C Number of competitors on the start line: 834. Withdrawals from leg 2: 15 (total: 19)

Gone with the wind

Moroccan runner Rachid El Morabity on the men’s side and French runner Laurence Klein on the women’s side won their third consecutive stage. But like all competitors, they had to cope with gusts of sand due to a strong Western wind.

A long string of figures fighting against the wind on dried-up lakes, crossings of the magnificent djebel Zireg, and the narrow pass of El Maharch: such were the most striking images of the 3rd leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES that spanned 35km between Taourit Mouchanne and El Maharch. In extreme conditions, the 34 competitors present on the start line struggled against a strong wind, heads down, glasses and buffs firmly set to face the sand storm: an exhausting and trying day.

[The] lead of the race is unchanged: Rachid El Morabity and his main challenger, the Jordanian runner Salameh Al Aqra, were far ahead for the whole length of the leg. And once again, the Moroccan champion won. Same story in the ladies’ race where Laurence Klein, from Reims, has an absolute leadership.


Rankings

Men

1. Rachid El Morabity (D1-MAR), 2h35’53’’ 2. Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR), 59’’ behind 3. Aziz Akad (D9-MAR), 1’36’’ behind

Women

1. Laurence Klein (D322-FRA), 3h19’05 2. Meriem Khali (D5-MAR), 9’41 behind 3. Karine Baillet(D130-FRA), 21’30 behind

Day 4: 11 APRIL - Stage 4: El Maharch to Jebel El Mraïer: 81,5 km

Well this was it, the longest day. I woke with my legs feeling better – I normally get stronger during a

training week and I was comforted to know that the same was happening here. I was looking forward to

pushing hard – I knew it would be tough but I was not expecting it to be as hard as it proved to be.

Back on the coach on our way to the first camp we had all been given our Road Books and all quickly

turned to the length of the longest stage – even though the length is just a number (the type of terrain is

more important) it concentrates the mind – 81.5 km or around 52 miles, a long one.

My training plan had been based around the fact we couldn’t replicate the Sahara in London in winter –

fairly obviously. So I broke it down into ten elements:

1. Heat

2. Feet Preparation

3. Hydration

4. Running long

5. Running day after day

6. Running with a rucksack

7. Running on sand

8. Nutrition

9. Equipment

10. Sleeping

My goal was to practice each one as much as I could – and if possible to practice combinations. So if I

could run on the sand of Hyde Park horse track with my rucksack over a long distance on multiple days

with all my race equipment on after sleeping on the floor and eating the same food then I was effectively

practising items: 2 to 10. The fact that it was close to freezing in January didn’t matter too much – the

heat training was done separately.

To prepare for the heat I did this in five ways:

1. Heat Chamber at Kingston University – nine sessions of one hour in the 14 days before we went

out.

2. Home-made heat chamber – I converted my downstairs wet room into a heat chamber by

putting my turbo trainer (a device to turn a bicycle into a stationary trainer) in the room plus a


foil survival blanket over the closed door to deflect the heat and then a small heater. This worked

well and I got the heat up to 42°C. I then christened it the “sweat room” and I’m sure it broke

most health and safety rules.

3. Sauna at gym – not ideal as you can’t stay in it long enough to get physiological changes but I did

use on days I wasn’t in the heat chamber.

4. Bikram Yoga – managed one session but lots of people used this as an approach and it is not

bad.

5. Wearing lots of clothes – for the three years before the MDS I had worn additional tops as I ran

or cycled to get used to being uncomfortably hot when racing.

The Heat Chamber

At Kingston University’s heat chamber we would run on the treadmill and ride on the stationary bike

while being tested. My stats for the sessions were as follows:

1. First day sweat loss 1.26 litres of water (room temperature 36.8°C, 72% humidity) – core

temperature at end of the session 38.5°C

2. Final day sweat loss 1.35 litres of water (room temperature 42.3°C, 69% humidity) – core

temperature at end of the session 38.9°C

So I lost similar water and had a similar final core temperature despite the temperature being 5.5°C

hotter.

My haemoglobin count reduced from session 1 at 167 down to 153 - an 8% drop. This indicated I had

more fluids in my blood – a good thing when you are about to go to a desert.

My sodium levels in my sweat were below average too, which was good news as sweating too much salt

out is not good for the body.


.


I was getting out of my sleeping bag when I noticed Michael hadn’t stirred yet – I asked if he was ready

for a tough day. He then said the words we had both been dreading “I’ve been sick all night and feel

terrible” – things had changed instantly. I asked what was wrong and he said although he hadn’t been

sick he had felt sick all night and hadn’t slept.

Michael slowly got up and couldn’t face any food – not a good thing when you are about to run 52 miles.

Michael made his way to the medic tent for some anti-nausea tablets and Tom gave Michael some

rehydration salts. Michael came back and looked pretty bad. He suggested I run with Sam and Ben but I

knew I couldn’t leave him looking like that.

It was an easy choice but also a tough one – I am very competitive and love running off-road and we had

both trained for this part of the race, the double-marathon. We had raced well for three days and had

really enjoyed it and we were both looking forward to this stage and the thought of going up the leader

board. We knew friends and family back home were tracking our progress and we also didn’t want to

disappoint them but things had changed.

We later think Michael was bitten by a mosquito or other bug and had contracted West Nile Fever which

is a sickness that lasts 3-6 days for which you would normally be sick in bed not about to go 52 miles

across the Sahara.

We said to Ben and Sam to race without us – secretly I

hoped Michael would get better during the morning. I

calculated that if we could start running after CP1 we would

have only lost 1 hour and that this would still give us a

chance of getting into the top 200.

28 The long walk


For the first time we were with the walkers – we saw Tom and Owen early on but we were walking

slightly quicker than they were. This was the one

comfort, although we were walking, we walking

strongly. Although I wasn’t sure this would last as

Michael hadn’t eaten since the previous day.

It was a new experience being back here with the

walkers. We had noticed that everyone seemed more

chatty and seemed to be enjoying it but this was really

just because we were at the front of the walkers – as

the day was to wear on this chattiness would fade as

quickly as the sight of the runners in front of us.

After about an hour of fairly easy terrain – great for

running on (and walking) – we hit some sand dunes. It was at this point I took Michael’s camera and

carried it the rest of the way. It was also at this point that I noticed Michael was slowing down quite

considerably. We had been at the front of the walkers but as soon as we hit the sand, which is harder to

walk on, Michael had to rely more on strength and less on leg speed and the lack of food and sickness

was starting to bite.

We crossed the dunes slowly with lots of walkers passing us. I expected the number passing us to slow

down as we found our new pace group but for half an hour people kept passing us – we were slipping

back extremely quickly.

We eventually made it to the start of the climb, Otfal

Jebel, a rocky and steep climb. There was a small path

snaking its way up the Jebel and we joined the back of

the group. This was tough going as the terrain was

unsteady and the heat was rising – although

fortunately it was slightly overcast which was keeping

the extremes of the day away. This was a significant

factor helping us – if it had been 54 degrees like Day 2

it would have been much worse.

As we climbed the Jebel Michael became weaker and

weaker and we would have been passed by far more

people but for the fact that most of it was single-file.

The people in front of us started to disappear in the

distance – and every time there was even a small

passing place wearisome walkers would try and get past

us. I knew this was going to be a long day on the climb –

people who were already in a bad way with blisters and

injury and illness were literally skipping past us.

We carried on and Michael kept losing his footing as we

went – another sign of his tiredness. However, this did

not concern me overly as Michael has a habit of kicking

29 Walking to CP1

30 Michael crossing the dunes before the big climb

31 Bottom of the Jebel - we lost touch very soon


about every fourth rock he passes – I’m not sure why

but he seems to like giving them a good kicking (I don’t

think he likes toe nails).

After a long heart and lung sapping climb we topped

out on the summit of Otfal Jebel. I looked at Michael

and he looked as if he had aged about twenty years. His

face was ghostly white; he was puffing hard and looked

in a lot of discomfort. I took a photo of Michael but he

looked so bad I think he has burned the photo.

At the top Michael took a few moments to recover and

I looked around at the view. It was thankfully overcast

but still extremely hot. We could see CP1 below and a

huge plain that stretched out from it.

Michael went ahead and I took some photos – I was

hoping that Michael would start to feel better now that

the main climb of the day was out of the way. I ran after

Michael to check how he was doing but he was feeling

worse than he did at the start of the day.

As we were leaving for the descent one of the two

support helicopters landed on the summit and kicked

up a sand storm which seemed to stay with us for the

rest of the week. I’m not sure if this was chaos theory and the butterfly effect in operation but it

certainly felt that way. I’m not sure why the helicopter landed, it may have been to medevac someone

off or could just have been to deposit one of the journalists on the summit.

We walked over to the sandy descent which had been

made easier (safer) by the addition of a rope down the

20% descent. Although some people took the express

route this was not that clever as the sand was

interdispersed with huge rocks that could easily destroy

an ankle or worse. I restrained my natural instincts to

race down the descent like a small child and hung back

to ensure Michael got down okay.

At the end of the descent there was a short walk over to

CP1 and the promise of more water and some shade. I

asked Michael how he felt and worse was the answer. I

suggested he get some more anti-nausea tablets and

possibly some rehydration salts.

As we approached the checkpoint one of the camera men gave me a small handheld camera on a long

stick facing toward me and I videoed myself coming into the checkpoint. Amazingly this made the official

32 Top of the Otfal Jebel

33 Descent off Oftal Jebel – ropes needed


MDS film – I looked happy and relaxed on it but at this point I had no idea that our pace was about to

dramatically slow.

At the checkpoint I went to get some anti-nausea

tablets for Michael but they wouldn’t give them to me

as they wanted to see Michael for themselves (quite

rightly). The doctor checked Michael out and gave him

some anti-nausea tablets and some dehydration salts

and he quickly took these and we walked on to CP2.

Michael seemed very sick but determined to carry on.

The walk to CP2 looked relatively flat and easy and I

hoped that this would signal an opportunity for

Michael to recover and that we would be able to raise

the pace but progress was slow.

As we walked away from CP1 I looked back and could see the pink gaiters of Tom and Owen approaching

CP1. I decided to crack on with Michael as I assumed they would catch-us very quickly. I did think about

the merits of having another two people with us as I thought it might boost Michael’s spirits but so far

Michael had only one speed at any time and I thought he needed to keep the pace going that he wanted

himself, rather than being pushed by others.

I had actually changed how I was walking earlier in the day – normally I like to set the pace and for the

rest of the day I had to curb my normal instinct and try and hang back behind Michael so that the pace

we went was his and not my interpretation of the pace I thought he wanted.

At least now that we were back on flat ground we weren’t being overtaken by as many walkers but our

pace had not picked up. As we approached within a couple of miles of CP2 the leaders of the race

overtook us at an incredible pace. In the MDS the top 50 male runners and top 5 female runners start

three hours behind the rest of the field on the double-marathon stage. This was an excellent opportunity

to see how quick the leaders were going and they were going at an incredible pace. I think the two

leaders were probably doing my half-marathon pace – which given they had run almost three marathons

in the days before, had a heavy rucksack, were on a sandy track and still had 40 miles ahead of them was

quite amazing.

After a while the rest of the elite passed us and the difference in pace was quite remarkable with some

of the elite 50 running at very modest speed – the difference being that they maintained this pace

throughout the week no matter the terrain.

We finally made it to CP2 and Michael wanted to take a short-break so we sat under one of the Berber

tents for about fifteen minutes. I then saw Harry coming out of the medic tent and we had a brief chat.

Harry had horendous blisters on her feet and had had to get them re-bandaged at CP2 and she’d taken

some strong pain killers too. My blisters were okay today – sore but not causing me too much trouble.

After the large blister from the first day I had been concerned that my feet would be trashed. However, it

seemed that the regime of applying Nok cream to my feet in the weeks leading up to the race had nicely

toughened them up.

34 Michael being dealt with by Doc Trotters


At this point I expected to see Tom and Owen but I guessed they must have taken more time in CP1 –

they did gain a reputation during the week of spending a lot of time in the checkpoints (must have been

all those nurses).

At this point Michael said that all we had to do was to make the next 13 kilometres to CP3 and he could

then sleep for a few hours. Unfortunately this was not the case – the checkpoint we needed to get to

before Michael could properly sleep was CP4 a further 12.4 kilometres past CP3 across sand dunes. I

could see Michael’s face and shoulders drop – this was not news he had expected and I did not enjoy

giving it. We still had over 25 kilometres to get across in difficult terrain before midnight to reach the

mid-stage cut-off.

The next leg to CP3 was very difficult as Michael was becoming weaker each hour. I had taken to carrying

additional water from CP2 when we were given 3 litres each. I carried a spare 1.5 litre bottle of water in

each hand in case we needed it. Although it was overcast it was still very hot and our pace had dropped

quite alarmingly – at this rate we would be many additional hours in the heat between checkpoints. I

kept reminding Michael to take water and salts and had to remind myself frequently to do the same as I

found I was not drinking as much as I should.

Michael had not eaten properly all day and I think his choice of energy bars made it even less appetising.

I offered Michael a cereal bar of mine and he was happy to accept it although he didn’t eat it until later

in the night. I offered not for the first time to take some of the weight out of his rucksack but Michael

refused. I knew Michael was too proud to take this form of assistance as he would then feel that he

hadn’t been properly self-sufficient. I admired his guts and determination but I did think it might be

foolhardy. I knew Michael wanted to stop at CP3 for an hour or so to try and feel better and I wondered

if I could get hold of his rucksack and secretly take some of his weight out.

We slowly made it into CP3 and I calculated that the most time we could stop for was one hour

otherwise we would not have time to get to CP4 before the cut-off. Making the cut-off was the most

important thing – if we failed we would both be out of the race. At CP3 Michael slumped down under the

flap of one of the Berber tents (as there was no room in the main tent). Michael happened to lay on top

of his rucksack and thus prevented me from getting at his kit to try and suruptiously remove some of his

weight.

As Michael rested I chatted to a lady in CP3 who was doing her third MDS and she felt that she and her

husband had finally got the MDS out of their system and now they were not enjoying it. The tent at CP3

was not a happy one – everyone there was struggling with their feet, injury, illness and some times all

three. As Michael closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep the wind that had started back on the

summit of the Jebel whipped around the tent.

After an hour I woke Michael and he said he was fine to continue – this was a good sign as at least I

didn’t have to force him up. It was now getting dark and the organisers gave us a glow-stick to attach to

the back of our rucksacks. Michael put on his head torch and I put mine on but it would not switch on. I

had gone for the lightest head torch there was and this proved to be a mistake. We now headed out into

a sand storm alone in the dark with 12.4 kilometres of sand dunes to cross before midnight. I thought at

that moment that if our friends and family could see us now they would question our sanity even more

than usual. I knew that friends would be tracking us and I hoped that they were not too concerned about

how slow our progress had become compared to the first three days.


I asked Michael if he had his compass handy and he did and he said the bearing we needed was 141°. I

took this as a positive sign – no matter how bad Michael had felt he had at least checked the bearing we

needed to get across the dunes in the darkness. We pushed on through the storm, our sand goggles

useless in the darkness, so we both took off our goggles and shielded our eyes from the storm.

We reached the first of the dunes behind a small group of walkers. I was comforted by the fact we were

with others and the fact I had the additional water. I knew we both had sleeping bags and survival

blankets in case we needed to stay over night in the dunes and I also knew we had a flare in case we

needed rescuing. We later found out that Tom and Owen had seen flares going up during the night but

we didn’t see any on that long night.

We both expected to see a laser beam guide us to CP4 but the laser beam was

actually a guide to CP5 so we searched the horizon in vain. When we hit the

first proper sand dune I knew we were going to be in for a long night. Harry

described going up the sand dunes as like “walking up a down escalator” and

this is an excellent description. It also highlights that you need a certain

amount of momenetum to get up the sand dunes otherwise you just sink back

to your starting point. Unfortunately Michael’s momentum had slowed

dramatically in the sand and we had lost the group ahead and we were now

alone. As Michael sank down into the dune I could see he wasn’t making any

progress up the side. I knew Michael was proud and had refused direct help

before. But I pushed him from behind and he gratefully accepted the help. I

knew Michael had reached the point where he knew he needed help to get

through the night. Michael impressed me with his determination – I’m not sure if I could have carried on

for so long feeling so terrible.

We came to the next sand dune and I pushed Michael up again and we made it to the top. This process

continued and was not made any easier by the two 1.5 litre water bottles I was carrying. At one point I

thought about ditching the water to make it easier to help Michael but I immediately dismissed the

thought – one thing I had learnt is that water is absolutely critical in the desert even at night time.

By now we could see some of the green glow-sticks that were paced out every 100-200 metres or so to

help us guide our way through the dunes. Even though the glow-sticks are there the undulating nature of

the dunes plus the sand-storm meant we had to regular check our compass bearing.

We reached another glow-stick and I suggested we took a break. He agreed and said he wanted a 30

second rest. We rested and I check Michael’s watch – I didn’t have a watch but I had borrowed Michael’s

at CP3 to ensure he only slept for an hour. I could see we hadn’t made much progress and I was worried

about the cut-off. I thought if Michael could get a night’s sleep he may wake strong enough to make the

final 32 km to the end of the stage. It was now getting close to the time we would have expected to be

finishing and we wondered how Ben and Sam had gotten on. I thought Ben would do the double-

marathon in around 12 hours and Sam in under 14 hours and I was sure they’d be enjoying it more than

we were.

I kept expecting to see the pink gaiters of Tom and Owen catch us up but as yet nothing. We made our

way down the next sand dune and readied ourselves for the next climb. We reached the top and another

glow-stick and I told Michael we should take a twenty second rest. I was concerned about the time and I

35 CP5 laser beam


started to reduce the length of breaks we were having each 100 metres or so. Time was ticking by and I

thought we would both be devastated if we didn’t make that cut-off.

We still had around 10 km of sand dunes to go in the darkness – I told Michael that we only had 8 km to

go. This was something I had started to do from CP2. I had ripped out the route descriptions from the

Road Book at the bivouac and had placed them behind my water bottles so that I could keep Michael

informed of where we were. After we left each checkpoint I would lie about our initial progress telling

Michael we had come much further than we had so that the distance to the next checkpoint didn’t seem

as daunting. If the distance to the next checkpoint was 13 km I would say it was 10.5 km and after an

hour we may have done 3 km but I would say only 6 km to the end – rather than the actual 10 km we

had to go. Occassionally this would have to be adjusted if another competitor told us the correct

distance but overall I think Michael guessed I was lying but was too tired to properly work out that I must

have been.

We carried on, alone, tired, beaten by the sand storm and tracking our bearing. I was not sure how far

we had come and how far we had to go as the dunes were featureless. I estimated we were making

about 3 km/h maybe less. If I was correct we should be okay but I was concerned that it could be slower

as we were taking circuitous routes around the dunes to try and stay on top of the dunes rather than the

direct route (as Michael was struggling so much on the climbs). With our regular stops I thought our

actual average speed could be closer to 2 km/h. At 3km/h we would make the cut-off at 2 km/h we

would not. There was nothing to do but carry on and there was no point in mentioning my concerns to

Michael as I knew he had no more to give.

We still scanned the horizon for the laser beam that we thought would guide us but we saw nothing. This

concerned me as I presumed we were still too far away from the checkpoint – maybe our speed was

closer to 2 km/h.

After what seemed an age we could see lights ahead – it couldn’t be the checkpoint surely. It wasn’t -

just one of the support 4x4s checking we were okay. This was something new – at the front of the race

you are not aware of the support vehicles and medics at the back and their constant vigilence. They ask

you benal questions not because they are interested but to illicit a response – any response is good, even

if it is a nod or a joke. The 4x4 checked we were okay and once more we were alone again.

We kept going and were now using the additional water I had brought with us. Michael had managed to

drink reasonably well during the day and this was a more positive sign. If he could stay reasonably

hydrated he would have a chance. However, he felt the salt tablets were making him worse and didn’t

want to take them. I pointed out that if he had sun stroke not only would he need to take the tablets we

were supposed to take but additional ones. I think my insistence won and he reluctantly kept taking the

salt tablets – or at least he said he was.

After a number of even worse sand dunes we hit a large ridge line and not for the first time we thought

this was the top of the Lahnoune Jebel – the point at which we would only be 2 km from CP4. But it was

not and we carried on climbing more false summits than I can remember. We finally got to the top of

some dunes and it become slightly rocky. In the darkness we could just make out some rocks with

Michael’s head torch and it seemed to be a trig point we were used to from our running in the Peak

District but we didn’t pin too much hope on it.


We started to descend and then hit what we thought was a dry lake bed – if this was a lake bed then we

had just descended off Lahnoune Jebel and we were maybe a kilometre away from CP4. In the distance

we could see lights again – but more than last time, many more. This was it, this was CP4 – we had made

it and within the cut-off time. The relief was incredible, we had pinned so much hope on getting here

before the cut-off; we both thought that the rest could make all the difference.

We got our cards stamped and received our extra water. Michael got some more anti-nausea tablets and

I tried to find a place for him to sleep. The tents at CP4 were like a battle scene – there were bodies

everywhere, maybe twenty people per tent (we had struggled with eight of us in them). There were

people worse than us and more coming in that were worse again. I managed to find a spot for Michael

and he quickly got into his sleeping bag and fell asleep immediately. I tried to find a spot under the flap

of the tent but the wind was savage and the flap was throwing itself at me with force on every gust. The

sand whipped around and every time someone moved the whole tent was forced to move. But Michael

seemed to sleep through the commotion and I knew he must be shattered.

Michael slept for nearly nine hours at CP4 – I slept a matter of minutes in between other competitors

sitting on me, shining torches in my face, and being beaten by the sides of the tent. At 5:30 am one of

the organisers woke the whole tent to say we needed to get out of CP4 by 6:30 am otherwise we would

be disqualified. I woke Michael and we started to get ready. I wondered whether Tom and Owen had

made the checkpoint and had looked out for them during the night. At about 5:45 am I thankfully saw

the pink gaiters stride out of CP4 looking strong – they must have stayed in one of the other tents. I

called over but in the darkness they didn’t recognise me. As Michael had just woken I thought it best if

we let them go on and didn’t call them back.

Michael seemed a bit refreshed but it still took him 45 minutes to summon the energy to leave CP4. At

6:15 am we left CP4 with only 5-6 competitors behind us – we were right at the back of the race. I

thought then, not for the first time, about friends and family who were tracking us. They would have

seen us enter CP4 but they would not see us get to CP5 for well over twelve hours – I knew they would

be concerned (our younger brother Mark and also my girlfriend Claire had both had near sleepless nights

worrying about us) – but there was nothing we could do.

As we moved out we could just see the laser beam signalling the route to CP5 before they switched it off

as the dawn appeared. The wind had not stopped and as we strode forward the sand storm kicked

around us like an unwelcome friend. Michael was still weak but at least he’d eaten the cereal bar and I

offered him a chocolcate chip bar I had and he gratefully ate it. By now my food choice had been on the

whole reasonably good. I was glad for my snack-packs but now I was down one meal as I had expected to

eat 800 calories last night as a dehydrated meal but this was not possible. It was now that I was grateful I

had added the additional calories at the last minute as I was down by 1,100 calories (two bars I gave to

Michael and one meal I hadn’t eaten).

I too was starting to weaken and the pressure of pushing Michael up the sand dunes and all the walking

had started to cause problems with my glutes. The night before the pain was so much I had had to take

painkillers to try and get some sleep. Like most runners I knew that walking and running muscles were

different and I had been told to practice walking. Like most runners I ignored this – even though I had

experienced the difference first hand. After my lung collapsed in December I had become very frustrated

so went out and walked around 16 miles – which took a lot out of me but I knew that my walking

muscles were different as the tiredness in my legs could easily be relieved by running. Every time I went


into a short jog my muscles were less tired – proof if I needed it that walking muscles and running are

not the same. But like most runners I still ignored this – no walker would do a running race without

practising running, but most runners would assume (wrongly) that running fitness is superior to walking

fitness – this is not the case and I was beginning to suffer. I had not planned to walk but now the lack of

walking training was causing me problems.

The walk to CP5 was tough – more sand dunes; our progress was slow but at least now the final cut-off

of 34 hours for the stage seemed achievable. The walk to CP5 took time and there was no one around us

but we made okay progress and arrived into CP5 in less than three hours – much better progress than

the walk to CP4. We crossed the timing mat and I knew that friends and family would be relieved to see

that we had made the checkpoint. We later found out that Claire (my girlfriend) and Mark (our younger

brother) had contacted each other – concerned with our lack of movement since CP4. Claire who was ill

at the time was constantly checking to see if we’d made CP5 and she was relieved we had and contacted

Mark. Our family and friends were worried about our lack of progress over the night and sometimes you

forget how hard it is for those back home who have so little information – we knew we were tired but

relatively safe but they didn’t.

I knew from the previous review of the route that from CP5 to CP6 and on to the finish was the fast part

of the stage. I had said to Ben and Sam that I thought we could make up a lot of places if we could run

strongly over these two legs – I hoped that they had found the going good. We were going to have to

slowly make our way across the last two legs.

On the way to CP6 we crossed a track and a Morrocan camel train stopped and applauded us. It must be

strange for the locals to see all these mad people walking through their world. I think it would be very

strange to see groups of Berbers travelling to Manchester to walk around in the rain “to experience it”

and sometimes we forget that we must seem very strange to them.

We made the last checkpoint, CP6, in good time (relatively) and moved on to the final leg to the bivouac.

There was no feeling of achievement as we knew that failure was just a footstep away in the desert – we

later found out that the race leader had set off their flare just a kilometre from the end of this stage due

to a suspected broken leg.

Michael was still not feeling good and was generally uncommunicative – as you would expect. So every

half hour or so when we passed another competitor or one passed us I would have a quick chat with

them. It was only when you chatted to the others you could see why this race has such a low dropout

race – it is certainly not because it is easy but because it attracts the toughest and most determined

people out there. Michael had suffered and we had fallen back to within a few places of last place but

there were people who had suffered more and for longer (day after day already). There were people

who had no skin left on their feet or who had had to cut the toes off their trainers to ease the pain.

In the last 24 hours I had seen a different side to the MDS, one I may not have seen if we had been racing

at the front. The real race is at the back, the real achievement and adventure is at the back – the stories

and characters to make you proud are being written in the blood soaked steps of the back markers. The

runners at the front are remarkable athletes, those at the back are just remarkable. The UK press can be

extremely negative on the lack of morality or guts or determination in today’s soceity – the back of the

MDS demonstrated to me that there are no lack of guts, there’s no lack of epic tales – but they are

tucked away in the wadis of the Sahara in races like this. There are no longer continents to discover,


wildernesses to explore but the spirit of Shackleton and Livingstone and Cook are kept alive at the back

of races like the MDS.

We moved on toward the finish – not long now we had made it. Then a few specks of rain fell upon us.

Fortunately we had both put our sleeping bags and food into waterproof bags inside our rucksacks just in

case and for this we were grateful. At that moment the heaven’s opened and threw bolts of lightning

around us. We were crossing a dry lake bed – we were the only thing with height for miles. At this point I

was grateful I was a few inches shorter than Michael. There was no shelter, no escaping the thunder and

lightning, no respite from the storm. We were close to the finish so our spirits had not been dampened

too much. But then the rain turned to hail and beat upon us with a ferocity I’ve never experienced

before. With nothing to block the wind and with no protection except a thin t-shirt we took a beating

from the hail. The pain was incredible and it felt like we were being shot at by a thousand air-rifles.

Michael suggested we shelter under his survival blanket but I thought we would get too cold and

suggested we press-on.

We were both tired, hungry and now we were freezing cold. We could see the bivouac now, but using

our rule of three we knew that although it looked one kilometre away it was probably three kilometres.

We pushed on and battled the down pour. We saw a number of 4x4s leave the bivouac together with an

army truck and we guessed it was there to pick up some people who had dropped out – I didn’t blame

them – this was not what we were expecting.

We braced ourselves and carried on and eventually

after nearly 29 hours (17 hours later than we

expected) we crossed the line at the finish of Stage

4. We had made it – nearly a day late (it was now

the rest day for most people) but we had made it.

Michael and I were freezing cold and shivering so

we were ushered to one of the organiser’s tents

and wrapped in a foil blanet to try and reheat. We

met a couple of guys who had been in before us

and they said the tent had been full of people who

had had to pull out. We were grateful for finishing

and slowly tried to warm-up.

Eventually, with some relatively dry tops on and the shivering stopped we

collected our water and walked back toward the tent to see the others.Tom

and Owen had been in for over an hour and seemed in good spirits.

Everyone else had made it in good time, Ben in an excellent 12 hours, Sam in

a very good 13.5 hrs, Ahmad in under 14 hrs (incredible for someone who

was mainly walking) and Harriet in 18 hours (despite the pain).

Earlier back home, Claire had been waiting for us to cross the finishing line

on the webcam but in the storm it had gone offline. Claire contacted the

organisers and she said they were very helpful and the webcam was back up

and running to show us crossing the line – finally.

As soon as I got back I emailed Mark to say we were okay and to explain –

36 Finish line of Stage 4 - Double-marathon stage


we were only allowed one email so I chose Mark as I knew he was addicted to emails and would receive

it immediately and pass it on to everyone else. The next day I emailed Claire with my one email to thank

her for her incredible support.

Back at the tent we cooked some food and tried to recover as best we could. Tomorrow was not a rest

day for us but another marathon. Ben and Sam planned to race it hard and I was keen to do the same

after struggling with walking. I had taken more pain killers that day for my glutes and hips and thought a

run would be fantastic. But first Michael had to get better. Like Tom on the first day it was the second

day I thought would be worse – if Michael did not feel better over night I thought the marathon could

just be too far for him given how sick he was.


The Longest Day

The long stage of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES kept all its promises with a dramatic turn of

events at the top of the race and unforgettable emotions and images for all. Wednesday and Thursday

were probably the most striking days of this year's edition with the 81.5km long 4th stage, between El

Maharch and djebel El Mraïer. Unforseeable new episode amongst the leaders: last year's winner and so

far absolute master of the race, Rachid El Morabity was forced to withdraw. The stage finished under a

violent storm which made the last kilometres even more epic for some competitors.

The Inspectors - Bivouac stewards

Just hours after the end of their leg, overcome with fatigue, laid out in their tent, the runners look

forward to the moment when the emails are distributed. This distribution is orchestrated by the bivouac

stewards, for whom this isn't the only role. Numbering sixteen in total, they're here to ensure that

everything runs smoothly in the bivouac. Marie-Jeanne, Nathalie, Virginie, Jean–Jacques... their arrival is

very keenly awaited, as Jean-Charles, Alexis, Pascal, Franck, Sébastien and Hervé from tent No.16

confirm in unison: "It's so nice to see them every day. They get our news and always have big smiles on

their faces. And if we're feeling a bit down, they know just what to say to make things better". The other

essential link in the MDS chain is provided by the inspectors. Positioned at each CP (checkpoint) and at

the finish, there are twenty-eight of them to check off the competitors' course cards, note down their

respective passage times if the computer fails and distribute the water rations. Here again, the

psychological aspect is an even more important factor according to François Laratta (D196-FRA): "The

checkpoint passages are good for the spirits, as you know that you're covering some ground. Above all

though, the inspectors are there to encourage you not to give up. Their delight at being there is a real

pleasure to see!"


Ben 12H05'38 6.78

Paul 28H40'18 2.86

Michael 28H40'19 2.86

Sam 13H28'10 6.09

Harriet 18H02'40 4.54

Ahmad 13H51'43 5.92

Owen 27H37'58 2.97

Tom 27H37'58 2.97


PRESS RELEASE

STAGE 4: DAY 1

At 8am. Hygrometry: 20%. Temperature: 23°C

At 11am. Hygrometry: 19%. Temperature: 29°C

Number of runners on the start line: 821. 3rd leg withdrawals: 13 (total: 33)

On the start line of the mythical long leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, between El

Maharch and djebel el Mraïer, faces were tenser than usual, steps less assured. This 81.5km long stage is

much dreaded by all, be they champions or anonymous (the first 50 male competitors and the 5 first

women leaving later then the rest). Hardly 9km later, the 821 competitors still in the race had to face the

climb of djebel Oftal. At the top, they were rewarded with the most stunning view over wadi Rheris, the

next obstacle. A moment to be relished before the climb down with a slope factor of nearly 20% (ropes

have been added for the runners’ safety), towards the valley and a river crossing, yet another effort

before about 20km of dunes. Whilst the best, led by Moroccan competitor Rachid El Morabity, will make

it to the finish line in hardly 7 hours, some will be spending over 30 hours out on the track.

A blow for Rachid El Morabity

Last year’s winner and so far leader of the race after 3 legs of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES,

Rachid El Morabity was forced to withdraw due to a medical problem. The incident happened about 1km

before the finish line of the long leg between El Maharch and djebel El Mraïer (81.5km). The night had

only just fallen when the 30 year old Moroccan runner felt an extremely violent pain in his left thigh. He

sent off his emergency flares, and he was quickly taken care of. He was given painkillers before being

taken back to the bivouac clinic of the MARATHON DES SABLES for further examination.

The first tests, amongst which an echography, revealed an important muscle lesion on the quadriceps,

but no fracture. Rachid El Morabity will nonetheless have to undergo surgery in the next few days. He

will be repatriated on Thursday.

The winner of today’s stage, Jordanian competitor Salameh Al Aqra has taken the lead before Mohamad

Ahansal, 21’38’’ behind, and Portuguese runner Carlos Alberto Gomes de Sa, 1h27’05’’ behind.

Rest Day (for some)

In the remains of the rest day we collected a can of coke we were given – this was a treat for the rest day

and I’m sure is primarily there to kill the bacteria in your stomach to avoid people getting ill (Coke is

great for stomach upsets as it kills anything in your gut). We were also given some dry tomatoes and nuts

snacks – not great for a nut allergy sufferer like me so I gave mine to Harriet.

I have suffered from a nut allergy all my life and unfortunately it can be fatal so

I have to be extremely careful. My tent mates were fantastic and every time

they had something with nuts in would leave the tent – this was very good of

them especially given how tired everyone was. I had actually had problems

getting into the MDS (they tried to stop me going originally) and I was worried

at check-in that the doctors would stop me even the day before the race

started. The senior doctor saw me and he checked my details and cleared my

ECG (thankfully) and said that the medics had adrenalin with them at the

checkpoints if I had an allergic reaction (he checked I had my own adrenalin – I


did together with steroids and anti-histamine) and he said to use the doctors adrenalin if I am by a

doctor but if more than five metres away from them then use my own. Generally they were fine with it

although it had concerned me for a while. I had even written my nut allergy over my hat and rucksack in

case I was found in the desert unconscious but thankfully this was unnecessary.

Stage 5: Jebel El Mraïer / Merdani: 42.2 km

I woke on the sixth day hoping that Michael felt better and also hoping that maybe we could run today.

Michael rose and his face was really swollen – I gave him some anti-histamine and he went to the medic

and they seemed relatively relaxed. I had also gone to the medic as my hands had swollen up a lot but

they seemed unconcerned. At the start of the marathon stage Michael felt good and suggested we run

but I knew from the heat chamber that the desert teases you like this. I said we should walk to CP3 and if

he still felt okay could maybe run to the finish.


Michael had suggested I ran with Ben and Sam but

despite wanting to I knew it was still a long way to

go and Michael was still sick so I said I would stick

with him. Once more we were toward the back of

the race and we walked a while with Tom and

Owen.

The route was pretty quick and I felt I could have

done the marathon in around 4 hrs 15 to 4 hrs 30

minutes but I knew today would take much longer.

After a few miles we crossed a little gorge and only

the second water crossing of the week (I hoped

Ahmad would do better on this one as he had

fallen in during the previous water crossing).

By CP1 Michael was struggling again and our pace

slowed down and the heat rose. We made it to

CP3 reasonably slowly but our progress hadn’t

slowed further. We passed through a deserted

village probably use by lots of the film production

companies that stayed at Ouarzazate.

Finally the bivouac came into view and after 7 hrs

41 minutes and about a minute ahead of Tom and

37 Support plane

38 Deserted village


Owen we got to the finish line. Ben waived at us as we crossed (he had done a very fast 4 hrs 13 minutes,

42nd fastest of the day). Our time was slow but we had made it – and Michael actually completed his first

official marathon race and so has a marathon personal best of 7 hrs 41 minutes! This is not a great time

given that he did the 45 miles Country to Capital in a similar time. But it was his first official marathon.

Well we had done it – we were almost there – just the largest sand dunes in Morocco to cross the next

day and we would have finished the MDS.

That night we were treated to Opera by a French

Operatic company that had been flown out from

Paris. It was an incredible thing to see – the back

drop was the dunes we were to cross the next day

and as the stars came out and the laser beam

shone across the sky we all felt we were within

touching distance of finishing. Sadly for two

competitors the next day they failed to finish and

it went to show nothing can be taken for granted

in the MDS.


Soon delivered

In a blasting heat but also in the most stunning settings, the 800 competitors still in the race have completed a major leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES. That marathon stage, won by Moroccan runners Aziz El Akad and Meryem Khali, has taken them to the foot of the Merzouga dunes, last obstacle between them and their finisher’s medal.

They get around

After over thirty hours of walking, Malaysian Yee Ah Chew, 74 years of age, has just made the finish of the long leg in the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES. With the dunes as a backdrop, he received the traditional guard of honour from all the runners who had come to congratulate the last of their kind. Behind him, two men also cross the finish line, somewhat more discreetly, and make the most of the moment. They too have their welcoming committee. Naji and Abdelkader are the two camel drivers, who each day accompany those at the back of the pack alongside their dromedary. The two men usually work in tourism. Naji, 41 years of age, is a familiar face in the MARATHON DES SABLES and has participated in it for some 10 editions. Barely had he crossed the finish line, before he was lifted up triumphantly by Bachir’s men, who erect and dismantle all the tents. “I’m always very happy to be here, he says. This long leg was very difficult with the rain and the hail storm. We had a tough night with the cold.” At 50 years of age, Abdelkhader is enthusiastically discovering this universe. “It’s not hard for those of us who are familiar with walking and living in the desert, he explains. If it was just down to us, we’d have finished long ago. However, you have to keep to the pace of those bringing up the rear. It’s absolutely incredible to see all these people from around the world who come to run in our desert. They’re really very courageous.” It’s a compliment which can easily be bounced back to these two men, who will ultimately


Ben 4H18'17 9.76

Paul 7H41'54 5.46


Sam 4H33'50 9.20


Ahmad 5H47'31 7.25

Owen 7H42'55 5.44

Tom 7H42'55 5.44

39 Opera in the Sahara


have been walking the longest during this 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES.

PRESS RELEASE

STAGE 5: JEBEL EL MRAÏER / MERDANI : 42,2 Km

At 8am. Hygrometry: 53%. Temperature: 15°C At 1pm. Hygrometry: 18%. Temperature: 29°C

Number of runners on the start line: 800. 4th stage withdrawals: 21 (total: 54)

Running in a post-card

Strings of dunes, dried-up lakes, wadis, the 5th leg of the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES served a full menu to the competitors. 42.2km to get through to get a bit closer to the final goal.

Hardly 200 metres away from the bivouac, the long pack of runners starts on the first string of dunes of the day. It is doubtlessly the most beautiful kick-off since the beginning of the 27th edition of Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES. In an idyllic post-card setting, the 800 competitors still in the race ran a classic marathon leg of 42.2km under a bright sun. Whilst Moroccan competitor Aziz El Akad flew towards his first victory of the week, the rest of the “procession” was dicovering astonishing landscapes of dunes sometimes gorged with water due to Thursday’s storms. Another feast for the eye was the colour contrasts of the white wadis, the black stones of the dried-up lakes and the pink-orange of the dunes. At the end of the 42.2km awaited the monumental dunes of Merzouga, the highest dunes in Morocco, which the competitor will have to cross on Saturday before their final deliverance.

MEN

5th leg

1. Aziz El Akad (D9-MAR), 42,2km in 3h08’11’’ 2. Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR), 4’19’’ behind 3. Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR), 6’41’’ behind

General ranking

1. Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR), 18h42’15’’ 2. Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR), 24’01’’ behind 3. Aziz El Akad (D9-MAR), 1h 42’31’’ behind

WOMEN

5th leg

Meryem Khali (D5-MAR), in 4h5’50’’ Karine Baillet (D130-FRA), 14’16’’ behind Susanna de Oliveira Simoes (D870), 17’44 behind

STAGE 6: MERDANI To MERZOUGA: 15.5 Km

The next day we woke feeling good – even Michael was feeling a little better. Ben was going to go off

hard with a faint hope of making the top 100 and Sam likewise was aiming for the top 150 – tall orders at

this stage of the race. The route for the day would involve a flat 6.5 km followed by 9 km of Morocco’s

toughest sand dunes – not an easy day at all.


We huddled round for a final photo before we started.

We knew at the finish you are whisked off in coaches

back to the hotel and so we expected not to see each

other until later in the hotel.

At the start Michael and I walked with Tom and Owen

and it was great to have company for the day – not that

Michael had been bad company throughout the last

three days but he hadn’t talked too much.

We made the first checkpoint quickly but we didn’t

receive any water so we’d carried an extra water bottle

this far in order to be able to cope with the heat and

time in the sand dunes.

40 Sam, Tom, Owen, Ben, Harry, Michael, Ahmad, me


The sand dunes were incredible and we had some good

fun running down them – although I did think that

maybe we were messing about too much as there was

still a long way to go. My main focus was getting to the

finish and preferably not in the last coach as I thought

this would wait a long time for the back markers.

We made our way over dune after dune and didn’t

seem to be making much progress. Although it was

better than one of the dune buggies that had struggled

to get over one of the dunes for fifteen minutes. When

it finally crested the dune it received a nice big cheer

from the MDSers.

We knew we were close to the finish now as the camera

helicopters buzzed overhead every few minutes – taking

journalists and TV crews across the dunes to cover the

race.

The dunes were incredible – much bigger than Stage 4

and I was grateful we had not crossed these dunes

during the double-marathon stage.

Michael and I thought about our younger brother who

was off skiing that same day and despite the differences

in temperatures some of the scenes reminded us of

skiing.

After a few hours we could see the finish line in the

distance. Tom and Owen’s parents, partners and sisters

were waiting at the finish and so far they were unaware

how tough things had been for Tom.

When we got close to the finish Michael and I took Tom

and Owen’s cameras and we filmed them as they

crossed the line.

For Michael and me it was a relief to see the finish line –

it had been an incredible week. It had been amazingly

tough but also an experience we will never forget. The

desert is incredibly beautiful but it has a darker side –

disrespect it, push just a minute too hard and it comes

down on you and never stops beating you up after that.

It was fantastic crossing the line; we received our medal

from Patrick Bauer; cheered at the webcam; and

mouthed the words “Mark it’s your turn next.” We then

received a ticket for the coach back. We had a bus ticket

41 I pass a Berber watching the madness of the MDS

42 Finish line - Michael's face still swollen


for 1:15 pm about half an hour away and I suggested we

jump in a taxi for the five hour trip. This we did and it

cost around €100 each – well worth it. Two other Brits

jumped in with us and we made it back to the hotel in

about five hours (although it was a pretty terrifying ride

as the driver seemed to have a death-wish).

I am often ask why do I do these things – Mallory replied

when asked about Everest “because it is there” and I

often think this is a poor answer for doing events like

this. Most people think it is madness – and certainly the

MDS is the start, middle and end of MaDnesS – although if you look closely you can turn Madness into

Sane and MDS – maybe there is a hint of why we do it.

The reason I do these things is because they are the most amazing experiences you can have. You see the

best of people, you experience things you can never experience in normal life and you push yourself

beyond what even you think is possible. It gives you enormous pride and excitement and memories and

friends that stay with you for life. I’m always amazed that others don’t do these things.


Keeping the desert clean

The 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES came to an end Saturday in Merzouga. For a week, over 800 runners and nearly 400 organization members have been walking, running, driving through the Moroccan desert. Yet their mark on the six bivouac sites or on the race track is not so easy to spot, even if a caravan of that size must leave a print, especially a carbon footprint. "The Earth doesn't belong to us, says Patrick Bauer, race director. It's very important for us that we erease all traces of our passage." And this is carried out in many ways. "Each water bottle given to a competitor bears his or her number, both on the cap and on the actual bottle. If we find either lying around, there's a penalty attached. Pocket ash-trays are given to all members of staff: we don't want any cigarette ends lying around either. Scandinavian toilets have been made available to the whole caravan, both for runners and staff members. For several years now, we've added an incinerator truck to the caravan so as to burn all our waste." The environment team of the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES has ten members. "We must leave each site as we found it, says Morad, who has been on the race for 12 years and who is responsible, amongst other things, for the protection of the environment. In my everyday life, I work in the tourism industry. I like open spaces and I must leave them intact for the generations to come. Out of respect for the Earth and for our land. Of all the competitions organized in Morocco, the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES is by far the most exemplary. "

Beyond caring for the environment, the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES organization is responsible for many local help programs, including wells and water pumps, and sport initiatives. Because the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES is first and foremost a human adventure.

PRESS RELEASE


Ben 1H43'46 9.25

Paul 3H17'36 4.86


Sam 1H51'29 8.61


Ahmad 1H59'37 8.03

Owen 3H18'16 4.84

Tom 3H18'16 4.84


STAGE 6: MERDANI / MERZOUGA : 15,5 Km

A grand finale

Jordanian runner Salameh Al Aqra and French athlete Laurence Klein are the official winners of the 2012 edition of the Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES. But each and every competitor, at their own level, have won a personal victory by crossing the finish line.

What a show! Competitors on the start line of the 6th and last leg of the 27th Sultan MARATHON DES SABLES, between Merdani and Merzouga, will never forget the last few hours of the last episode of their South Saharian adventure. For the final chapter of their saga, a grand setting: the Merzouga dunes, the highest in Morocco. On the finish line, where Patrick Bauer, the race director, puts the much longed for finishers’ medal around the runners’ necks, there are of course many tears and cries. You can see the tiredness on the runners’ faces after 6 days of effort, but it’s their relief and joy that’s most striking. They’ll go away with many mental images of that week long adventure, in sometimes difficult conditions (sand storms, hail…), and in varied but always stunning landscapes.

MEN

6th leg

1. Aziz El Akad (D9-MAR), 15km in 1h13’30’’ 2. Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR), 36’’ behind 3. Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR), 3’35’’ behind

Final general ranking

1. Salameh Al Aqra (D148-JOR), 19h59’21’’ 2. Mohamad Ahansal (D8-MAR), 21’02’’ behind 3. Aziz El Akad (D9-MAR), 1h38’56’’ behind

WOMEN

6th étape

1. Meryem Khali (D5-MAR), 1h31’37’’ 2. Laurence Klein (D322-FRA), 4’48’’ behind 3. Meghan Hicks (D973-USA), 12’58’’ behind

Final general ranking

1. Laurence Klein (D322-FRA), 26h15’40’’ 2. Meryem Khali (D5-MAR), 1’19’’38 behind 3. Karine Baillet (D-FRA), 1h31’07’’ behind

Our overall positions were not what Michael and I had hoped for. We knew the desert was tough but we

had hoped to be in the top 200 like Ben and Sam and not 616th and 617th – but we had seen both sides

of the race and for that I am grateful. We could have come to the MDS and raced well and only ever

experienced one part of the race but we saw both – from Front to Back.

Final positions:

Ben 109th

Sam 161st

Ahmad 237th

Harry 358th

Michael 616th

Paul 617th

Owen 756th

Tom 761st


In total there were 853 starters and 794 finishers – 59 dropped out (5 on Stage 1, 15 on Stage 2, 9 on

Stage 3, 23 on Stage 4, 5 on Stage 5 and unfortunately 2

on Stage 6).

My feet had survived okay – three lost toe nails and six

blisters – not bad really. Back at the hotel we showered

(several times and removed the tape that we had

applied to our shoulders and backs to avoid chaffing

from the rucksack) and then made our way to the

restaurant. Unfortunately I could only eat a bit of pork

and dried pasta and for me (because of my nut allergy)

the food was not much of a reward. Overall though

there was nothing of day-to-day life I really missed. I

missed my friends and family and I missed Claire a lot

but the day to day things, email, the Internet, TV, chairs

I did not miss. I certainly missed showers and toilets (especially on the final day when a broken stool

nearly landed me in it all).

That night we had a beer and went to bed early. The

next day we collected our t-shirt and walked around

Ouarzazate. Ahmad kindly bought me some little

trinkets to put some Saharan sand in I had collected –

they were a memory for my nieces and nephews.

We had a few more beers that night and flew out to

Gatwick (via Luton) the next day and back to normality.

The MDS had been an incredible experience and not

quite what we had hoped for but probably a greater

experience for it.

Hopefully one day I will be back to Morocco too as it

was a fantastic country with lovely people. But would I be back for the MDS? Possibly but there are more

challenges and experiences to be had first. I also think you could do this race ten times and never have a

race you feel went to plan. Having said that I would certainly recommend the MDS to anyone and I

would hope you would have as great an experience as I did.

http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-JenkinsonMDS

THE END

Tent 67 Overall Pace (km/h)

Ben 33H17'42 7.45

Paul 55H01'50 4.51

Michael 55H01'50 4.51

Sam 35H36'34 6.96

Harriet 43H04'38 5.76

Ahmad 38H33'47 6.43

Owen 66H32'54 3.73

Tom 67H02'54 3.70

44 Ouarzazate

43 Ouch

http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-JenkinsonMDS


FACTS OF THE MDS:

• 12,000 competitors since 1986 • 30 % repeat competitors • 70 % international • 30 % French • 30 % UK (biggest contingent in 2012) – only made up 20% of abandonments • 14 % women (lower level of abandonments than men) • 45 % veterans (average age around 40) • 30 % in teams of three or more • 10 % walkers • 90 % alternate walking and running • 14 km/hr: average maximum speed • 3 km/hr: average minimum speed • Age of youngest competitor: 16 • Age of oldest competitor: 79

The support structure:

• 115 volunteers on the course itself, • 400 support staff overall, • 120,000 litres of mineral water, • 270 Berber and Saharan tents, • 100 all-terrain vehicles, • 2 “Ecureuil” helicopter and 1 “Cessna” plane, • 6 “MDS special” commercial planes, • 23 buses, • 4 camels, • 1 incinerator lorry for burning waste, • 4 quads to ensure environment and safety on race, • 52 medical staff, • 6.5 kms of Elastoplast, 2,700 Compeed, 19,000 compresses, • 6,000 painkillers, 150 litres of disinfectant, • 1 editing bus, 5 cameras, 1 satellite image station, • 10 satellite telephones, 30 computers, fax and internet, • A touch of madness...

About the MDS:

Patrick Bauer set-up the MDS twenty seven years ago. He was an ex-French Foreign Legionnaire who had

walked across the Sahara self-sufficiently and had decided he wanted others to experience what he had.

Although a race the aim is to get people to the finish – hence the reasonably good completion rates –

plus the unbelievable spirit of those at the back.


MY KIT LIST – I used the factor of 5 – I multiplied the weight by 5 before deciding whether to take it

The above is what I wore and I was happy overall with the choices.

The X-bionic top was excellent and kept me cool (as it is designed to do – it is weaved so sweat

from the back moves around the body to cool the whole body).

The arm protectors (white at the start) worked well as they protected me from the sun, kept me

warm when I needed to, and meant I could take less sun cream.

The shorts worked well and I had no chaffing or other problems (I didn’t take a spare pair).

The calf protectors worked well to provide something for the gaiters to hang on to and protected

my calves from the sun (so less cream needed) and kept me warm at night if needed.

I had my Nubian hat decorated by my nieces which was great. I also wrote about my nut allergy

on the front. I also took two safety pins and pinned the hat to my buff and the back of the hat to

my T-shirt to keep it secure during the high-winds and we had very high winds. I would have

taken another safety pin and pinned both sides to the buff if I went again. The hat had a small

peak but this was fine and didn’t affect my vision too badly. The peak was also soft so I could

have used it at night as a hat in the sleeping bag.

The buff was great (a union flag version so I didn’t have to take a separate flag) – it keeps you

warm as a hat, keeps sand out of the mouth and protects the neck and can also be used for

various other things. I put my sponges inside the Buff at night and used as a pillow or a knee rest

in the tent.

The socks worked well – a glove sock (although this took time to get on in the morning) and

another over sock. I would definitely do two socks again and didn’t have any overheating or

overly sweaty problems.

I

t

e

m

Q

u

a

n

t

i

t

y

G

r

a

m

m

e

s

A

d

j

u

s

t

e

d

W

e

i

g

h

t

N

e

x

t

T

i

m

e

L

o

c

a

t

i

o

n

R

a

t

i

n

g

1 114 113 Wear 90%

1 75 75 Wear 90%

1 205 205 Wear 90%

1 56 56 Wear 85%

1 38 38 Wear 95%

1 52 52 Wear 85%

1 43 43 Wear 85%

1 68 68 Wear 80%

1 11 11 Wear 95%

2 341 341 Wear 90%

1 50 50 Wear 90%

Arm protectors

FOOTWEAR

Raidlight Desert Gaiters

RUNNING SHORTS

Velcro for trainers

SOCKS

Mammut Nubian Hat

X-bionic short sleeve top

RUNNING TOPS

Shorts and calve protectors from 2XU

HAT

Inov8 Roclite 319

GAITERS

Buff

Injinji Performance Crew or Mini Crew

Julbo Explorer Alti X6 with Chameleon

SUNGLASSES

Bridgedale Endurance Trail Ultra Light


The trainers/gaiters worked excellently although the gaiters had to be thrown away as they

would probably only last another couple of days. Some people took normal trainers but I don’t

think they are robust enough – cushioned trail shoes are the best. The gaiters worked very well

and were worn the whole time – a change this year as the dunes occurred every day (and many

times) so you couldn’t just put on and off. I had them stitched properly at a cobbler in Yorkshire

and they did a fantastic job. Some people had the large gaiters but these looked hot and

uncomfortable. I would probably stitch a small reinforced element to the toes – my brother did

this during the race using part of his rucksack (he kicks lots of stones). I went for trainers 1 size

too big – I am normally around 8.5 in UK sizes but normally take a 9 so I went up to 9.5. I would

do the same again and I had two pairs of socks and taped feet and was the right size for me.

I removed all labels and other bits of the items that weren’t needed to reduce weight.


For my rucksack and other equipment I chose the following:

I

t

e

m

Q

u

a

n

t

i

t

y

G

r

a

m

m

e

s

A

d

j

u

s

t

e

d

W

e

i

g

h

t

N

e

x

t

T

i

m

e

L

o

c

a

t

i

o

n

R

a

t

i

n

g

1 1100 1025 1,025 1,000 Rucksack 90%

2 93 90 180 180 Rucksack 90%

2 737 0 0 0 Rucksack 100%

1 710 699 699 699 Rucksack 95%

1 267 252 252 252 Rucksack 85%

1 219 219 216 200 Rucksack 75%

1 13 13 13 13 Rucksack 90%

20 14.6 14 280 140 Rucksack 70%

1 114 114 114 114 Rucksack 90%

1 17 18 18 15 Rucksack 50%

1 4000 4000 3,590 3,300 Rucksack 75%

40 1.325 1.325 53 53 Rucksack 100%

1 77 27 27 27 Rucksack 100%

1 85 40 40 0 Rucksack 75%

1 29 29 29 20 Rucksack 75%

1 19 18 18 15 Rucksack 75%

1 86 59 59 40 Rucksack 75%

1 21 21 21 20 Rucksack 85%

1 29 28 28 40 Rucksack 50%

1 29 18 18 0 Rucksack 50%

1 59 59 59 45 Rucksack 75%

2 34 34 68 68 Rucksack 100%

1 38 24 24 24 Rucksack 100%

1 59 21 21 21 Rucksack 100%

1 40 16 16 12 Rucksack 70%

1 14 14 Wear 100%

1 3 3 3 3 Rucksack 100%

2 2 0.5 Wear 100%

1 40 10 10 8 Rucksack 90%

1 40 25 25 20 Rucksack 90%

1 61 100 100 80 Rucksack 95%

1 40 12 12 10 Rucksack 95%

1 40 5 5 5 Rucksack 95%

1 120 41 41 0 Rucksack 75%

1 40 8 8 8 Rucksack 100%

1 7 23 23 20 Rucksack 100%

1 34 34 34 Rucksack 100%

1 30 30 30 Rucksack 90%

1 1 1 1 Rucksack 100%

7 0.143 1 1 Rucksack 100%

1 50 50 40 Rucksack 100%

7,211 6,558

Ear Plugs

Pillow

Suncream P20

Lipcream

Safety Pins

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Credit card and cash

Toilet paper for day

Passport

Lighter

Wristband

Steroids/Anti-his

EpiPens

Salabutomol

Lifeventure dry wash gel

MSR Packtowl Ultralite Towels

Marmot Plasma (new spring 11)

Esbit Titanium Pot

COMPASS

Aspivenin Venom Pump

Water

ELECTROLYTES

Aarn Mountain Magic 30L + 3L

Esbit Titanium Folding Stove

STOVES

ANTI VENOM PUMP

OTHERS

Becotide

AMK Rescue Flash Signal Mirror

FIRST AID KIT

SIGNAL MIRROR

Recta DT 100

Strappel Dream Tape 4cm or 2.5cm

Petzl E Lite + whistle

Victorinox Classic SD

KNIFE

AMK Heatsheets Survival Blanket

SURVIVAL BLANKET

HYGIENE

See separate

Esbit Hexamine Block

BACKPACKS

POTS AND UTENSILS

FOOD - All Expedition Foods

Esbit Folding Titanium Spork

SLEEPING MAT

Thermarest NeoAir Small

Salt tablets

SLEEPING BAG

Raidlight 750ml Bottle with tube

HYDRATION

Liner for rucksack

Photo

Multivits

Sponges

HEADTORCH

NIGHT TIME CLOTHING UPPER

Montane Chukchi Shirt


My choices explained:

Aarn Mountain Magic 30L + 3L – great rucksack (heavy) but good access to front pouches, you

can see your feet and very good to run with. Would take again.

Raidlight 750ml Bottle with tube – worked okay – I had to use parachute cord to tie down into

the bottle holders on the rucksack (Velcro hadn’t worked). I placed spare gaffer tape around the

bottle in case I needed (in the end didn’t).

Marmot Plasma – excellent but expensive lightweight sleeping bag that goes down to -1. No

need for a silk liner.

Thermarest NeoAir Small – worked okay but was worried may pop (didn’t see anyone’s pop). Not

the most comfortable and made a noise as you moved about.

Montane Chukchi Shirt – useful at night and early morning when cooler/cold. Also slept in as just

nice to get out of day top.

Esbit Titanium Folding Stove – worked very well but didn’t really need as could use stones etc

but very lightweight.

Esbit Hexamine Block – quite heavy. You can collect wood for the fire but this takes effort. I

probably took too much and could reduce next time, possibly by taking more cereal bars for

breakfast.

Esbit Titanium Pot – worked well for heating water.

Esbit Folding Titanium Spork – fine but would go for a lighter non folding option next time.

Food – see later.

Salt tablets – I took my own but in the end used organiser’s ones – they gave us 120 tablets (20

per day and roughly 2 per litre of water).

Aspivenin Venom Pump – compulsory and light.

Strappel Dream Tape 4cm or 2.5cm – for taping feet but could ask each day from doc trotters – I

took tape off each day to let feet breath which was a good idea.

Recta DT 100 compass – fine but lighter options available.

AMK Rescue Flash Signal Mirror – lighter options available.

AMK Heatsheets Survival Blanket – lighter options available.

Victorinox Classic SD – good lightweight knife.

Petzl E Lite + whistle (spare batteries) – super lightweight but very fragile needs to be more

robust.

MSR Packtowl Ultralite Towels – used wemmi wipes in the end. Could just use gel plus towels

form doc trotters.

Lifeventure dry wash gel – had too much and better if a spray as can take less.

EpiPens – no choice.

Salabutomol (asthma) – asked Doctor for smaller dispensers and ones that fitted with Becotide

too.

Becotide (asthma) – see above.

Lighter – cheap version from market, worked mostly.

Wristband – my medical band.

Steroids/Anti-his – my medicines.

Safety Pins – useful.

Toothbrush – half size.


Toothpaste – needed 2/3rds of small tube.

Sun cream P20 – excellent – needed around 80-90ml.

Lip cream – need less than full tube.

Ear Plugs – wax ones good but got grubby.

Pillow – fine but sponges and Buff just as good.

Credit card and cash – compulsory.

Toilet paper for day – 6 days’ worth, can use medic tents paper if sneaky.

Passport – compulsory.

Liner for rucksack – initially used bin liner but split too easy so used rubble sack and kept kit dry

and free of sand and can use to collect rocks for the tent.

Photo – of Claire.

Multivitamins – one a day.

Sponges – two for under shoulder straps and two for buckle – really useful and good for other

things.

Total weight was 7.2 kg (one of the lightest) and next time I would aim to get as close to 6.5 kg as

possible.

Other items:

Distress Flare – heavy and no choice (although you give back at the end of Stage 5).

Road Book – can rip out pages don’t need as go along.

I

t

e

m

Q

u

a

n

t

i

t

y

G

r

a

m

m

e

s

A

d

j

u

s

t

e

d

W

e

i

g

h

t

N

e

x

t

T

i

m

e

L

o

c

a

t

i

o

n

R

a

t

i

n

g

1 340 340 340 340 Rucksack 100%

1 100 100 100 50 Rucksack 100%

2 10 10 20 20 Wear 100%

10 4 4 40 20 Rucksack 100%

7,711 6,988

2 750 750 1,500 1,500 Rucksack 100%

9,711 8,918

Ditched early on

1 40 40 40 Rucksack

1 82 82 82 Rucksack

1 6 6 6 Rucksack

1 40 5 5 Rucksack

133

Didn't take

1 120 105 105 Rucksack

1 200 200 200 Rucksack

1 49 4 4 Rucksack

1 200 200 200

509

Slippers

Shower cap to wash feet

Road Book

Race Numbers

Distress Flare

Adventure Medical Kit 0.3

Tyvek suit

Tights

Silk Liner

Floss

Poo bags

Chilli

Water


Race Numbers – they are very strict about the positioning of these.

Poo bags – you get 10 for the week but can get more if need (therefore can ditch some early on).

Water – not much you can do about this.

Chilli – I took to add to food but ditched early on.

Silk Liner – I ditched early on.

Floss – I ditched early on.

Shower cap to wash feet – I ditched.

Slippers – I didn’t take as weighed too much and a real luxury not needed.

Tights – luxury, didn’t take.

Adventure Medical Kit 0.3 – you can get anything you need from doc trotters.

Tyvek suit – luxury not needed.

My whole principle was the least amount of weight as possible and I spent a lot of time focussed on this.

If I did it again I would spend even more time getting the weight down to the lowest possible.


MY FOOD FOR THE WEEK:

My food choices were based on having the minimum calories of 14,000 (the powdered protein shakes

are not included) – this gave 15,761 calories less the 1,080 of protein shakes to give 14,681 calories. At

the very last minute I added the four items in grey above, two elevenses bars and two packs of ride shots

– another 756 calories – which in hindsight was a good decision.

Most of the food was fine, some from Xtreme was pretty horrible and although it tasted fine at home it

tasted horrible in the desert so it is important to ensure you really enjoy the food at home to stand a

D

a

y

W

h

e

n

D

e

s

c

r

.

C

a

l

o

r

i

e

s

W

e

i

g

h

t

P

r

o

p

o

r

t

i

o

n

P

r

o

t

e

i

n

C

a

r

b

s

F

a

t

F

i

b

r

e

S

o

d

i

u

m

U

s

e

A

g

a

i

n

N

o

t

e

E

a

t

e

n

Day 1 Day Snack Pack 732 171 4.28 6% 67% 15% 3% 0.29 See below 732

PM Xt - Spag Bol 716 146 4.90 28% 35% 26% 6% 0.40 No Horrible 716

Day 2 AM EF - Porridge 806 164 4.91 5% 56% 29% 2% - Yes More 806

Day Snack Pack 732 171 4.28 6% 67% 15% 3% 0.29 See below 732

PM EF - Beef & Potato 810 184 4.40 15% 50% 21% 4% 0.80 Yes Okay 810

Day 3 AM MH - Lasagne 603 121 4.98 27% 35% 28% 6% 0.10 No Not great 603


PM EF - Savoury Mince 804 182 4.42 10% 37% 31% 2% 0.10 Yes Good 804

Day 4 AM MH - Lasagne 603 121 4.98 27% 35% 28% 6% 0.10 No Not great 603


PM MH - Spag Bol 716 146 4.90 28% 35% 26% 6% 0.40 Yes Okay 716

Day 5 AM EF - Savoury Mince 804 182 4.42 10% 37% 31% 2% 0.10 Yes Good 804


PM Xt - Spag Bol 716 146 4.90 28% 35% 26% 6% 0.40 No Horrible 0

Day 6 AM EF - Savoury Mince 804 182 4.42 10% 37% 31% 2% 0.10 Yes Good 804


PM EF - Beef & Potato 810 184 4.40 15% 50% 21% 4% 0.80 Yes Okay 810

Day 7 AM EF - Porridge 806 164 4.91 5% 56% 29% 2% - Yes More 806


All PM For Goodness Shakes 1,080 330 3.27 26% 60% 2% 3% 0.80 Yes Excellent 1,080

Added Chilli / Salt No Not needed 0

Elevenses Bar 181 40 4.53 6% 62% 20% 4% 0.30 Yes Okay 0

Elevenses Bar 181 40 4.53 6% 62% 20% 4% 0.30 Yes Okay 181

Ride Shots (Cola plus caffeine) 197 60 3.28 7% 75% 0% 0% - Yes Good 197

Ride Shots (Cola plus caffeine) 197 60 3.28 7% 75% 0% 0% - Yes Good 197

15,761 3,590 4.39 14% 52% 20% 4% 11.64 14,784

Average 2,334

Post loss 2,194

Day Food

1 Bourbons 68 14 4.86 5% 66% 22% 3% 0.25 Yes Crumbled

1 Custard Creams 62 13 4.92 6% 70% 21% 2% 0.50 Yes Crumbled

1 Special K bar 80 20 4.00 9% 66% 9% 10% 0.25 Yes Good

1 Elevenses Bar - cookie version 181 40 4.53 6% 62% 20% 4% 0.30 Yes Good

1 Fig 71 19 3.84 5% 68% 10% 3% 0.10 Yes More

3 Cheddars x 3 63 12 5.25 11% 49% 31% 3% 0.60 Yes Crumbled

3 Tuc x 3 75 14 5.21 7% 56% 29% 3% 1.00 Yes Crumbled

3 Jelly Babies x 3 66 20 3.33 4% 80% 0% 0% - Yes More

3 Haribo sours x 3 66 20 3.33 6% 78% 0% 0% - Yes More

Snack Pack 732 171 4.28 6% 67% 15% 3% 0.29


chance of it tasting okay in the desert (even with added chilli). I did take some savoury dishes for

breakfast as I heard you lose your sweet tooth in the desert and this is definitely the case but I could

probably have stomached porridge each morning. My snack pack was really good as not too much of

anything and no gels and nothing massively sweet. The only problem was that the biscuits and crisps

became like mush most days as your rucksack takes a battering. The fig rolls were very good and held up

well to the knocks. It is also worth testing what doesn’t melt – the things I expected to didn’t (chocolate

bourbons) but Elevenses chocolate chip did as did Special K chocolate chip. I would probably add a few

more jelly babies and sour Haribos as well.

The protein shakes were very good, although I took one too many (didn’t need for rest day) so I had two

the day before the long stage.

My final change to the food would be to put in a couple of breakfasts that are cold – i.e. home-made

flapjacks as these can be substituted for snack packs if you get stuck out in a stage and don’t have time

or the energy to cook properly.

Overall excluding protein shakes I had 13,704 calories less around a 6% loss (bits dropped, stuck inside

the water bottles etc) to give a total of 12,882 calories, which averaged out as 2,034 per full day (the first

day you only need a snack pack and dinner, and the last day you just need a breakfast and a snack pack).

We also received a can of Coca Cola on the rest day and a chocolate/nut snack I gave away.

I ran/walked on average 6.5 hours a day (55 hours less 10 hours at CP3 and CP4 when Michael was

sleeping on Stage 4 to give 45 hours). We probably burned on average 400 calories an hour (given the

terrain and additional weight carried) – to give a calorie expenditure of 2,600 calories plus the normal

resting calories burnt (mine is 1,550 static so with moving around the camp etc around 1,800). This gives

total burned per day of 4,400 calories and total intake of 2,194 (including the protein shake) a net deficit

of 2,206 calories per day. Overall a deficit of about 14,000 calories or roughly 2 kilos in body weight,

which overall is not too bad. I put on about three kilos of weight before the race (above my normal

Ironman race weight) as I wanted to burn fat rather than muscle during the race. I had spent the

previous three years teaching my body to burn fat rather than carbohydrate by doing lots of very long

cycles/runs without taking on any nutrition and overall I think this worked well.

I would go for the low calorie option again as the weight is too much to carry and you definitely lose your

appetite anyway.


MAP KEY:

marathon des sable - from front to back

Documents