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Marathon Des Sables
By Michael Wardian
July/August 2009
For the Washington Running Report
The Marathon Des Sables is a foot race in and across the Sahara Desert in Morocco and is arguably the "Toughest Foot Race in the World."
The event has a rich, vibrant history and endurance athletes from around the world descend each year on the provincial town of Quazazate, Morocco to gather for the five to six hour bus and/or military truck ride into the Sahara Desert and the beginning of an adventure that will change many of their lives.
Photo of Michael by darbaroud.com.The Marathon Des Sables is a French run and organized event and is based on a format similar to the Tour de France. Athletes cover approximately 150 miles over seven days, during six running stages, in temperatures ranging from 30 degrees up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Each stage ranges between 13 to 56 miles and covers some of the harshest terrain you can imagine. The race course changes each year with the exact details of the race course remaining a secret until the race actually starts, as the organization does not want competitors stashing gear, extra food, and equipment along the route.
Some of the challenges awaiting competitors are the tallest sand dunes in North Africa, dunnettes (little sand hills, terrible things), muddy river beds (which makes getting your feet free of the riverbeds a little like "Gumshoe falls" in the board game Candyland; losing a shoe is not unheard of), mountains, rocky bolder strewn trails, rivers (I know, I did not expect to run through any rivers in the desert either), and then just vast stretches of sand and emptiness. All the while, competitors must navigate these challenges carrying a backpack with all their food (excluding water, as the race organization provides about nine liters a day to each athlete), gear, medical supplies, and mandatory equipment for the entire week.
I was lucky enough, through the generous support of my sponsors, MarathonGuide, The North Face, Moeben, PowerBar, Pacers Running Stores, and Potomac Maritime, LLC, to have been a participant in the 24th edition of the Marathon Des Sables which was held March 29 to April 4, 2009 and it was a terrific experience.
My first time at Marathon Des Sables was in 2000 and I was just there to finish (and not die, as my wife Jennifer so aptly put it). I ended up 26th overall and the 1st American, so I knew that I had some success with the stage racing format and distance but I also knew that to move to the next level and compete against the best of the best from around the world I had a lot of work to do.
Photo of Michael by darbaroud.com
I started training for the Marathon Des Sables in earnest and I contacted the United States representative, Jay Batchen of Dreamchaser Events and tried to gather as much information as possible. I always find that the more you know about an event, the better and every little detail can be important. Jay Batchen is one of the most incredible guys you could ever meet and has run the Marathon Des Sables at least six times, finishing really high in the overall event on numerous occasions. He knows what works and what does not and without his help I and most people from the USA, Canada, Australia, and around the world would have been hard pressed to do as well as we have.
Jay reminded me that I would need to have the lightest backpack possible and each gram would be critical if I wanted to beat the guys dominating the race for years, the Moroccan brothers: Lahcen & Mohamed Ahansal. I, of course, over packed for the race and Jay and my teammate and friend, Bryon Powell (of, irunfar.com fame), helped to get my gear ready for the race. We completely gutted my The North Face Angstrom 30L, cutting off pockets and trimming zippers. It was fun but scary. I kept thinking, "Am I going to need that?" I did not need anything more than I had left after our surgery on my bag and they were right to make me cut as much weight as possible.
Each day was a challenge for me and I had to adapt my running and race strategy to the course for that day, my current energy levels, the amount of weight still in my backpack and how it was riding on my back (The pack tends to chaff your back so I put some tape on "hotspots" each day). An average day at MDS for me was something like this: wake up to a sand encrusted face, hands, and mouth, and wiggle out of the carpet that was wrapped over my mummy sleeping bag to keep me warm in the frigid temps of the night.
Head to the bathrooms (i.e., holes in the ground), take care of things, come back to the "tent" (it is really just a tarp with open sides) and then start making breakfast, which consisted of a PowerBar, some oatmeal, and maybe some dried fruit or, depending on how far into the race, anything I could find left over in my bag (which was mostly mac & cheese; big mistake). I had the absolute minimum amount of food (2000 calories per day) so food was tight. Then I would check my backpack, see whether I could live without anything (you would be surprised how much you do not want to carry a pack after a few days) to make sure I had all my mandatory gear, enough calories still left in my backpack, chat with my seven other tent mates, share stories of the night, and wait for the Berbers (a group of men that live in the desert and are hired by the race to take down and set up camp each day) to come and take away our tents.
After that we would collect our first ration of water for the day, get our water card punched, load up on water for the morning, learn the distance we would be running, get our water bottles ready for day's adventure, and start packing up. All this would have happened before 8:00 a.m. each morning. The race usually started between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and could last well into the afternoon for some people. During the race, it was all business: keep up on salt, take in water, PowerGels, worrying about who is in front of me, who is behind me, how am I feeling, monitoring my blisters and body temp, and just trying to run the best I can in the conditions.
Upon completion of each stage the top ten runners would get their gear checked to ensure that nothing was amiss. While race officials searched our packs, the top guys and gals would relax and talk about the day and just congratulate each other on a nice effort.
After gear check, water was taken back to the tents and the preparations for the evening began. I tended to head to the computer tent to send an e-mail to my family, friends, sponsors and Running Times, who I was blogging for, and after that, food was prepared for dinner and we waited for the other athletes to come in. Some days required delicate surgery on blisters and other application of ointments to various body parts, but each day was a treat and I would not have traded all those experiences for the world.
Photo by Claire Boulanger/New Balance France
The 2009 Marathon Des Sables was my second time at the event and I was there to win. After navigating a week of challenges, including a panic that the race would be cancelled due to the worst flooding that most people in Morocco could remember, I finished 8th overall, as the 1st American and I had the best-ever finish by an athlete from the United States of America and, curiously enough, the best finish ever of a native English speaker in the entire history of the race.
Oh yeah, Mohamed Ahansal of Morocco won, just 2 hours 17 minutes ahead of me.
I plan to go back to the Marathon Des Sables and have already begun training for the 2010 edition of the race. With proper training, a few tweaks to my nutrition, and the help of my generous sponsors, I believe I can improve on my 2009 finish and win in 2010.
Photo by Benji Chu
Sidebar:
Quick Facts about the Marathon Des Sables:
1) Distance: approximately 150 miles or 241 kilometers
2) Number of competitors: approximately 800 runners from around the world
3) Competitors must carry all their food, gear, medical supplies, etc. for a week of running; no outside assistance (including medical) is permitted.
4) Competitors must always have the following mandatory gear with them during the race:
Food: Each entrant must provide his own food for a full week, selecting the type of food best suited to his personal needs, health, weather conditions, weight, and backpack conditions. Each competitor must have 14,000 k/calories, i.e., a minimum of 2,000 k/calories per day, otherwise he will be penalized. Gas stoves are strictly forbidden.
Survival gear: Backpack or equivalent (best suited to each participant), sleeping bag, torch with spare batteries, 10 safety pins, compass, with 1° or 2° precision, lighter, a whistle, knife with metal blade, tropical disinfectant, anti-venom pump, a signaling mirror, one aluminum survival sheet.
Web Sites for the Marathon Des Sables:
1) Official Web site: http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php
2) U.S. Representatives Web site: http://dreamchaserevents.com/doac/index.htm