The Marathon des Sables

Hui Ling McCarthy

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On the 10^th April 2005, I shall be off to the Sahara Desert for 6 days, in search of a little adventure, to compete in the 20^th Marathon des Sables.

A Bit About the Marathon des Sables

It has been billed as the world’s toughest endurance race and not without good reason. The Marathon des Sables is a 151-mile (243 km) footrace across the Sahara desert in Morocco. Apart from the sheer distance of the race (the equivalent of running 5 ½ full marathons back-to-back), competitors also have to cope with scorching daytime temperatures of up to 120°F, plummeting to little above freezing at night.

The terrain is also pretty unforgiving: gravel, rocks, dunes and mile after mile of ‘sables’ (sand).

As if that wasn’t enough, competitors are required to be almost entirely self-sufficient throughout the duration of the race, carrying everything from food, clothing and sleeping bag to toilet paper and the obligatory 10 safety pins. Apparently sawing off toothbrush handles to reduce the load by a couple of grams is de rigueur.

After a couple of day’s acclimatisation, the race is divided into 6 stages as follows:

Day 1: 17.5 miles (28km)

Day 2: 21.3 miles (34 km)

Day 3: 23.1 miles (37 km) – ‘Dune Day’ if the rumours are to be believed – miles and miles of them.

Days 4 & 5: 47.5 miles (76 km) – Day 5 is a ‘day of rest’ – that is if you’re not catching up on day 4.

Day 6: 26.3 miles (42 km) – a full marathon.

Day 7: 12.5 miles (20km) – a quick sprint to the finish.

More information on the race can be found on http://www.saharamarathon.co.uk/