Marathon des Sables - Final Report!

The Race Finish of the Marathon des Sables had something of a carnival
atmosphere to it. The finish line itself was surrounded by photographers,
organisers, runners families and supporters and local townspeople, all
cheering the victorious runners home. Patrick Bauer, the Race Director,
makes it his duty each year to hug and congratulate each runner personally
as they arrive at their final destination. When I crossed the line I was
surprised at how emotional the poor guy was, clearly overwhelmed by the
spectacle of so many runners having accomplished this magnificent challenge
he had set. In my rusty French I thanked him for organising such a great
race and stumbled off towards the recovery tent, taking my last bottle of
water from a nearby marshal and having my water ration card punched for the
last time. More...

Day 7 Report

We were awake slightly early today, not surprisingly. It's the last day and we were all keen to get on with it, to finish off the 22km last stage, claim our medals and declare ourselves worthy finishers of "The Toughest Footrace on Earth". Success was tantalisingly close.

We rolled up our sleeping bags, kip mats and lit our stoves to cook our farewell freeze-dried breakfast in the desert. As we did so, Berbers who had been responsible for establishing and breaking down the camp each day, wandered among the tents, hoping for gifts from generous runners. A few carry sleeping bags, kettles, boil-in-the-bag meals, energy bars, gels, sweets and items of discarded clothing, no doubt gratefully handed to them by runners eager to avoid carrying unnecessary weight for the last stage. More...

Day 6 Report (Marathon Day - Updated)

Day 6 - Marathon Day

At the pre_stage briefing given by Patrick Bauer this morning, we were told that temperatures yesterday reached 44 degrees and were set to be higher today, with less breeze than before. This is a daunting thing to hear as you embark on a 26.2 mile footslog across the desert.

However the other amazing thing to hear is that so far, over 11,000 emails of good luck have been sent to competitors out here by their friends and families. So a Huge Thank You to all of you who wrote to us - we are extremely grateful for your support and that you have been thinking of us. It has not been possible to send reports back to Eventrate owing to slightly erratic email tent opening hours!


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Day 5 Report

Day 5 began at about 6.00 for me, 3 hours after I and fallen asleep. Throughout the day I was to see other competitors complete the 51 miler and the begin to find out how it had gone for them. I can't mention everyone I spoke to, but here are a few stories of some of them.

Let's start with my heroic Charlotte who arrived after 22 hours at just after 7 in the morning. She had found the stage fairly horrible and had physically deteriorated. Her feet were to put it bluntly, a mess. Her back had acquired several grazes from her pack. She was obviously completely knackered and spent a few hours trying to sleep off her ordeal.

I reckoned if she made it this far, then it would be a fair bet that she would finish ok in 2 days time. She had also been stung by some vicious insect. Fortunately she was being accompanied by 3 other Brits at the time, Alastair Prain, ad the two Kefford brothers, Paul and Andy. Apparently there was a race between the three of them to see who could use their antivenom pump first.
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Day 4 Report

Today, Day 4 was the one most of us had been dreading more than all the others, the 82 km (51 miles) stage.

For most this would be an ordeal which would last well into the early hours of Day 5 or even later in the day. We were in temperatures of well over 30 degrees with such strong winds that most of the daylight hours were spent preventing sand from clogging up my eyes ad teeth.

Tom Lawley, one of my tent mates had pointed out before the stage even started that as he was already struggling to stumble across the bivouac site to get his morning water ration, this did not bode well for the next 51 miles. (In fact, Tom was to put in a very good time and arrive before midnight). While doing some morning surgery before he set off, Tom proudly announced that, thinking he was cutting away plaster from his feet, he was actually snipping away at one of his toes which only became obvious when he found his hands covered in blood. More...

Day 4 - Commentary Interlude

Dear Readers,

We know we won't hear from Luke today. Day 4 is the "long day", a double marathon - 84 kilometres - and without doubt the toughest stage of the race. Most competitors will be running into the night. Some, exhausted after four marathons in three days, will camp out in the checkpoints before the finish-line (the clock is still running, but of course they have all their food and equipment with them) and stumble in the following morning. Those who make it late in the night will surface groggily, nursing what is probably one of the worst hangovers of their life (yes, it's true, though not from alcohol - deserts dehydrate you so badly that they really do give you a hangover). Day 5 is a rest-day and so the competitors will be taking a well deserved lie-in. Their spirits will be quite high, though. With the worst day behind them they will be beginning to feel that the goal of a finish is within their sights. Of course, there?s an apprecialble hurdle ahead tomorrow, a full marathon - itself no small feat itself under normal circumstances, let alone the 35 degree heat, the sand, rocks and the mountains they will encounter in the Sahara - but for that we'll hand you back to Luke tomorrow.... More...

Day 3 Report (Final Bit)

Charles Penruddock, a 24 year old surveyor from London, gets the prize for the heaviest penalty awarded by the organisers. He told me he was caught red-handed trading 2 Lucozade tablets for a loaf of bread from a villager. 3 hour penalty. Unlucky to get caught, even unluckier to be caught again in a so-called "random" check on arriving back at the bivouac where he was discovered to be in possession of the illegal bread! More...

Day 3 Report

Day 3 was a toughie. 38 km long across some extremely tricky terrain, much of it uneven stony ground occasional dunes, gravel and then more uneven stony ground. we passed through a few wadis beside some stunning scenery, flat-top mountains, dunes, a small village or two ad some "plantations". villagers seemed to be friendly on the whole, with applause and "bonjours" greeting us along the way. More...

Day 2 Report

A rude awakening at 5.45 by one of the race marshals gave us serous cause for concern. Apparently today was due to be "unusually hot". What on earth could unusually hot for the Sahara mean I wondered? In the event I needn't have worried; 34 degrees with a light breeze. Not that unusual then. But it still meant a start half an hour earlier than we expected. More...

Day 1 Report

Finally, the first day of the race. We were promised a route of 25 kilometres with stony ground, soft sand and then 2-3 miles of dunes to finish. By now most of us were just eager to get started, even if a little nervous too. Above all though, the general feeling was one of excitement. In retrospect I have realised that I was far too relaxed and that I had managed to subdue the detailed and all to painful memories of my last Marathon des Sables. More...

Saturday 5th April

This is the final day before the start and, after the months and months of planning, our last chance to decide what food and kit we are going actually take during the race, and what we will leave behind. It's an agonising moment... will we actually need that extra roll of loo paper? Will we actually be able to stomach that 25th Power Bar after five days of them? But anything that we decide not to take with us is handed over to the organisers, who take it with our main baggage to Ouarzazate. We will have to live with these decisions for the next seven days... More...

Friday 4th April

After a breakfast of croissants, coffee, and more mountains of bread, the adventure began. We loaded up into buses and headed south into the desert, through mountains and then into the desolate, never-ending plains. I began to remember why I had agreed to come again (besides Charlotte's challenge, that is).

Fortunately 'comfort breaks' were provided along the road. Unfortunately not soon enough for many of the runners, who have also been hydrating themselves in advance of the race. Suddenly the plastic bottles that their drink came in soon found another use... Our packed lunch, at a café by the side of the road, was a civilised affair, well, it was French after all. More...

Thursday 3rd April

Our first day on Marathon des Sables 2003 - flying out to the town of Ouarzazate in the Anti-Atlas Mountains -- was pretty straightforward altogether. There weren't even any major delays to write home about.

Arriving at check-in at Gatwick on Thursday morning it was easy to spot the other Marathon des Sables runners. They were the lean, mostly-clean shaven men each surrounded by a heap of kit. The conversation was mainly about their training regime over the past few months, or how they were going to fit the mountain of food and clothing into their racing rucksack. More...

On your marks

The last minute preparations are all done and we're on our way to Gatwick Airport this morning for our flight to Ouarzazate in Morocco.

Given the current geopolitical climate I thought I'd better check the Foreign Office travel advice web page for Morocco. "Keep a low profile" and "dress inconspicuously in public places" were some of the key nuggets of advice. So, now I feel a lot happier about hoofing it across the Saharan dunes and plains with 600 or more runners all in bright lycra and sunglasses.

And only this week the race organisation emailed all competitors to caution them against wearing or displaying any national flags during the race. In the past many Brits have patriotically sported Union Flags on their backs 'Falklands' style when racing in the MdS, so it is probably appropriate advice.

Charlotte and I have been well supported by email and telephone from enthusiastic friends and family this week, many sponsoring Charlotte for her charity, the Trinity Hospice, and generally wishing us luck. One email arrived for us late yesterday from Mr Pandey, the legendary race director of the Himalayas 100 Mile Stage Race (HSR), which we ran two years ago. "May Himalayan Goddesses provide you full energy during the race" he wrote. As there are 8 other runners who also competed in the HSR that year we expect that the Goddesses will be extremely busy and only hope they don't mind the heat. The Moroccan forecast for the next few days is sunny with temperatures about 26 degrees, actually quite pleasant by Sahara standards, but I know we may well need to be prepared for much higher temperatures. In fact in 1998 one of the checkpoint tents on the race had a midday temperature reading of 50 degrees on the 50 mile day. No joke when you're out running in those conditions.

So now there's not much more preparation we can do. The long winter months of relentless plodding around a cold, rain-soaked Richmond Park, with rucksacks brim filled with full waterbottles and dumb-bells will be put to the harshest of tests.

In Morocco we'll be meeting many of our fellow 200 Brits and will no doubt renew old friendships as well as begin bonding with some new faces. In cramped tents of nine competitors during the 7 day challenge we will all cook, eat and sleep next to one another's sweat-encrusted bodies.

And we will not shower.

Lovely.

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