We are very grateful to Amanda Heading for this account of the well known Marathon des Sables. Amanda was 2nd British female in the fiercely competitive 2005 event and her tips for success should be read by anyone contemplating this classicDistance: approx. 250km over 7 days
Date: second week in April
The Marathon des Sables is billed as "the toughest footrace on earth". Held in the Sahara desert, it's certainly hot, difficult under foot and, set as a stage race over 7 days, a long way.
The desert is a magical place to be, especially at night with thousands of stars and the Milky Way. The scenery, though arid, is varying with tiny villages dotted around, huge rock formations and a beguiling amount of different types of sand! You become extremely adept at looking out for the hard-packed stuff. But of course, there's no escaping the sand-dunes…
The stages differ in length and are roughly divided into: 29km, 38km, 41km, 76km, 42.2km and 20km. Although the overall distance changes each year, there's always a marathon stage and a long, overnight stage. The overnight stage tends to come half-way though the event and can be completed in two sections, sleeping the night en-route, or as one section, thus giving you a 'day-off' in camp.
As a self-sufficient race, you have to carry everything you'll need for the entire week. This includes all food, cooking/eating utensils, personal medicines, clothes, sleeping bag, mat, head-torch and mandatory equipment. With a minimum limit of 2000 calories per day (up to 4000 is recommended), food usually takes up most of your rucksack!
Water is provided but rationed to a daily allowance, c.9-11 litres per day, depending on the distance to be covered and weather conditions. You're typically given 1.5 litres to start, then the same amount at each check point you pass (which tend to be c.10k apart). At the finish of each stage, you're given 4.5 litres, to cover you for re-hydration, evening meal and breakfast.
Full medical care is also provided, both en-route and at the campsites. Whilst this is often excellent, the queues for treatment can be long and the wait tiring. So there's a trade off between carrying all your medicines or relying on the event doctors. The quality of care and knowledge is excellent - contrary to belief, they're not butchers!
Pre-race you're put up in a five-star hotel, where you receive your route book and devour the last proper food you'll eat for the next week. You're then transported to the desert where you spend a day or so getting used to your tent/mates, re-organising your gear, going through the obligatory medical and kit checks (very rigorous) and eating at the French-style, self-service cafeteria (wine or beer with your meals!). Only the French could do it with such panache in the middle of a desert.
Home for the duration of the event is an open-sided berber tent, sparse in appearance, cosy in space and prone to collapse during sand-storms. You keep the same tent and tent-mates for the duration of the event, so make sure you're with people you'll get on with: each tent sleeps eight people, about a foot apart if you're lucky, with room at your head and foot for your rucksack etc. Tidiness and good organisation is a must!
Each day starts around 6am with the tent being dismantled around you. Depending on the length of the stage, the day's run starts c.8-9am, after a mass briefing (and singing happy birthday to any relevant people). Although there are time constraints for each stage, as long as you don't fall behind Doris the camel, you'll be allowed to continue (two berber men with their camels walk each stage behind the competitors).
The terrain covers long flat stretches of sand or rocky ground where you can't get any rhythm. There may be dunes, oases of vegetation, small villages, children herding goats, rocky ascents and sandy descents. Sand dunes feature every day, but there may be one monster day of non-stop dunes, or as in 2005, stretches of them on every day.
But overall, there's hardly any solid, even ground.
The whole campsite is then transported to the next stage-end for that day and erected in exactly the same format - extremely helpful at the end of a long, hot, dusty day when you're dehydrated and disorientated.
There's a communications tent, with email and telephone facilities, so you can contact your loved ones. Emails sent to you are distributed on paper to each tent at the start of the day - heart-warming and motivational, but often dangerous in terms of emotional collapse!
The support offered during the race is fantastic and there's a real carnival atmosphere at the very end, with organisers, locals and competitors all mingling around, celebrating. After the race, you're transported back to your luxury hotel (a hot, hellish five hours cramped up in a coach seat), where-upon you gorge yourself silly on the various foods. The sight of the swimming pool if tantalisingly cruel: if you've got/had blisters, you're not allowed to swim, due to spread of infection. That leaves the pool empty.
So, other than the heat (up to 50 degrees C), the length and the sand, what makes it so hard?
Whilst you get each night to rest and recover, the conditions certainly take their toll. There are certainly harder running races, but when you put all the elements together, the MdS is a fantastic challenge. It's not so much the running, but the organisation and preparation which most people under-estimate.
- Blisters are the main threat - and people suffer from them on day one. It's a combination of the sand rubbing and the heat causing your feet to swell. Competitors tend to wear bigger shoes to allow for this (1-2 sizes bigger), but there's no consensus on actual footwear. Some wear short gaitors that cover only the shoe, others wear full parachute-material gaitors that come up to the knee. Some wear water-proof socks, or shoes; some run just in their trainers. But the sharp rocks and deep sand will penetrate the toughest of all protection.
- Sand gets everywhere: in your mouth, up your nose. Salty sweat and sand will block zips; the dryness, sweat and sand will crack lips and cuticles till they bleed.
- Sun-burn and sand-burn: it's amazing how some people will not use enough sun-block, and burnt backs-of-knees/arms/necks are common. Wearing good sun-block and a hat with neck-flap are essential, with the former also helping to prevent sand-burn (tiny particles of sand dust penetrating the skin pores, during sand-storms).
- The weather is changeable: very hot during the day, cold at night and sandstorms, which can stop you in your tracks and bring visibility to zero. I was resting in my tent after the long stage when we had the worst sandstorm of the week. I spent from 11pm-3am taking it in turns to hold the tent up - at least I wasn't out running in it.
- Hydration can be difficult because the water is luke-warm. People do get lost amongst the dunes, so carrying enough water is vital - even though it adds to your weight.
- Food - take along things you've tried, tested and like, especially savoury foods. At the end of the day eating sweet, sugary stuff give your taste buds a treat. Salty, fatty foods are good too. Beware too much powder supplements - messy, sticky and sickly after a while.
- Carry as little as possible. At least your rucksack gets lighter as the event progresses, but most people take far too much and bin a lot after the first day: clothes, food, deodorant. You all end up smelling the same anyway.
- This is a race over 7 days, no less. Make sure you're fit enough to enter it; ensure you keep yourself fit enough to finish it.
- Finally, keep your sense of humour. They'll be times when it's tested, but we're doing this for fun, right?!
Amanda Heading was second British female in the 2005 MdS.
