The world’s toughest race
- Posted by Amy Bell
- On March 8, 2024
By Pepe Ivars
La Revista’s intrepid adventurer is tested to his physical and mental limits on the infamous Marathon des Sables.
The heat wave turned the desert into a furnace, with averages of 45°C a day, complicating progress climbing dunes and jebels (mountains) with the long stage day of 90km. One third of the competitors dropped out, to just leave the stronger or luckier to survive. And I was one of the lucky ones.
The 2023 edition was special because it was the last with Patrick Bauer as its race director. Patrick is a legend and founder of this legendary race who, back in 1984, filled up a pack with food and water and trekked off alone into the Algerian Sahara to cover 350km on foot in a self-sufficient manner. Little did he know at the time, but this journey was the start of something incredible, the Marathon des Sables. Patrick now lives in Barcelona enjoying a well-deserved semi-retirement from the desert running scene.
The iconic marathon is a five- stage race covering a distance of approximately 254km in the middle of the Moroccan Sahara. You are required to carry everything in your rucksack except water, and that means compromising.
You can either go faster and lighter or heavier but comfortable. I chose the first, and I’d finish the race with the same clothes I’d started, slept on the floor with no matt or sleeping bag, and cooked dehydrated meals with the water left to boil by the heat of the sun. Every single little detail matters in the desert, and helped me finish the race, better than expected, in a very decent position.
Some competitors walk the full distance, and the only rule is to walk faster than a camel pace, so at the beginning of each stage a pair of dromedary camels and their proud berber owners walk the full distance behind the pack, and if they catch up with you, then you are automatically out.
The 2023 edition of this iconic race was the hardest so far, due to the unprecedented intensity of the heat, accentuated by climate warming, and stages that were more challenging because of other circumstances. Coming later in April due to Ramadan, the predictions were always for hotter temperatures and an increased chance of sandstorms – we got them both! Gladly, the intense sandstorms subsided after stage 2, but the heat grew in intensity as the week progressed with 42-degree temperatures in the shade and low 50- degree temperatures recorded in the direct sun.
The first day we were faced with a 36km stage, when typically, it was always at around the 30km mark. The additional distance adds to an immediate stress and strain. It’s easy to look on and say, but it is only 4km to 6km! True, but 4 to 6km for somecanbe2to3hoursinthe heat, carrying a relatively heavy rucksack. It takes a toll.
Stage two was a beautiful stage and a classic distance. However, it had had more technicality and additional vertical gain which in itself added to the stress and strain. There was intense heat and sandstorms towards the end of the day, plus carry over fatigue from day one, so that 106 participants did not finish. For me it was a close call to retirement because that morning I was hit by a stomach bug that didn’t leave me until a couple of days later—but I finished the stage.
The third day of the race is always a cautious stage as many want to preserve energy for stage 4, the long day. Starting with km after km of flat running, the stage was in comparison to other stages, an easier day for me, even if 72 participants abandoned the race.
The long stage at 90km was the second longest ever stage of the MDS. Coming in a hot year of record temperatures, it was always going to be a tough challenge. A beautiful route that included climbing Jebel Otfal, the route had relentless soft sand and intense heat. Darkness and cooler temperatures were the saviour of many runners and despite this, 119 did not make the line.
At this point I was fully recovered from my stomach bug, and I ran for most of the stage to complete the day in a very decent time of 17h and 51 minutes. A long day for the legs. The weight of the rucksack was reduced considerably at this point from the initial 8kg in day one.I was eating close to 5000kcl a day, so I was probably running with something close to 5kg plus the water, and that was a great relief for the back and legs.
The following day, after a well- deserved rest, we started with the full marathon distance. Because I was in the top 100 runners (totally unexpected!), we started an hour behind all the rest of runners. It made the race more interesting with fast runners chasing the slower runners, and for people to have the chance to run alongside the leader and take some good decent pictures if they can. This is the last running stage, and the medal is in sight, no matter how tough the day is, the hug and kiss from Patrick (el capo) makes one more day of pain manageable.
That evening was a night of camaraderie and celebration in the camp. We were finishers! We went through it and some of us came out victorious on the other side. A bunch of people that merely a week before were total strangers were now best friends and brothers. The camp was divided by nationalities. We had the British and Irish quarters, the Koreans the Spanish, the Italians, the French and Moroccans. Tents (haimas) were positioned in a circular way all facing the start/ finish arch.
For a week this was our home and operated as a little village, where after a while, you started knowing your neighbours and understanding their daily routines of the day-to- day life at camp.
Marathon des Sables offers more than just a running experience, it offers a challenge, it offers something quite unique – the Sahara strips the runners back to basics and deprives them of all luxuries so that they are stripped raw. Runners find themselves in the desert and the finishers are bonded together for the rest of their lives as “brothers of sand”.
More info: marathondessables.com
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