I spent months agonising over kit decisions, online blogs where highly useful but remember; what works for me may not work for you!
I found loads of great blogs on the subject but found I always wanted more opinions so decided to write this to help. A few of the blogs I read really stressed me out, they made believe my pack should weigh not a gram more than the 6kg minimum. When I realised that they were written by a 55kg elite female runner I realised that at 6'2'' 75kg with an allergy to down I would need to be realistic about my pack weight. My pack weighed in at 8.1kg without water, I was happy with this.
Back Pack
I bought this early on as I wanted to train with it, increasing the weigh slowly. I found the pack excellent with very little bounce. The bottles are mounted high so the straws needed a little cutting down to stop them poking me in the face but after that they where perfect.
The pack is probably lacking a bit in external pockets so I also used a running belt (Salomon Pulse). This held my phone, headphones, salt tabs and compass. The belt also had elastic straps that I would place at the back and stow my poles when I wasn’t using them.
In the week before the event I started having a panic that the pack wasn’t big enough, that I should have bought the 25l and that I needed a front pack. In the end I am very glad I didn’t do any of those. My pack was filled to the brim on day one but it should be and it only got emptier from there. If I had had the 25l pack I probably would have filled it… I did need stow my sleeping bag on the outside of my pack in the stowage bag that the poles came in so if you don’t want to do that maybe go 25l…
After all the training and the event the pack still looks as good as new. I saw at least 2 Raidlight packs that where ripped by day 2.
Bottles
Personally I would go hard bottles as they are never going to get punctured and can be filled up quickly whilst still on the pack at check points. One thing I saw was people using the small balloon animal balloons over the drinking valves to keep them clean when not in use. I ended up just smearing hand sanitiser over them each morning.
Shoes
Hoka One One Speedgoat Evo (This shoe is discontinued, the Speedgoat 5 is the replacement)
I started with he Speedgoat 4 but found the tongue was too thin and the laces bit into my tendon. After about 600km on those I bought the Speedgoat Evo which were perfect. They were a bit narrower but since I have size 12 I think the narrowness allowed the Raidlight Gaitors to fit.
Be aware - everyone says to go 1.5 sizes bigger, this is 1.5 EU sizes! Personally I didn’t find my feet swelling much at all.
Socks
I took two pairs, with a fresh pair for the long stage. I also used 2Toms Blister shield in the socks. I ended up with only 2 smallish blisters so felt quite happy with this. I had read advice against them incase you can’t get the socks on when you have blisters but I didn’t find this an issue.
Shorts
Skins Compression Shorts
Comfy, no flapping in the wind and had a little pocket which I used for quick access to a GoPro. Wether or not all the compression stuff has any benefit I don’t know?! I wore Runderwear boxers underneath which were excellent. I washed them mid week but to be honest they were fine anyway.
Calf Sleeves
Compression Sport Calf sleeves: Twofold benefits, stops your gaiter from chafing your ankles and keeps the majority of your legs out of the sun. Again, compression benefits? Maybe, but that’s not he main reason I wore them.
Shirt
I went with the X-bionic Fennec. Its pricey and comes with a lot of big promises however I found it comfortable. I would tuck it into my shorts (very uncool I know) and then it wouldn’t move or ride upat all which completely prevented any chafing from my backpack with no need for tape or anything. I also used some 2Toms Sport Shield towelettes in areas I thought might be prone to chafing.
At checkpoints I would pour water over myself and the chilling affect was amazing - wether that was do to with this shirt or not I don’t know.
Main point is I didn’t suffer from the heat and got no chafing whatsoever.
Gaitors
I went with he Raidlight gaitors and had absolutely no problems with them. My size 12 Hoka’s were the absolute maximum size though. I got the velcro stitched on by Alex Shoe repairs in Battersea - so should you!
Hat
Raidlight Desert Hat
Absolutely essential bit if kit. The hat was great. The sunshade curtain could be adjusted out on the peak so you could block wind or sun and the elastic tightening band made it feel secure. I would still attach it to my bag next time though so it doesn't blow away.
Buff
Essential bit of kit. I bought 2 original buffs with me. One was used around my neck everyday and over my mouth when it was sandy. The other came in handy as a blindfold/hat etc.
Poles
I discussed in my race report my views on poles, if you are going to take some make sure they can collapse quickly. These are the ones.
Watch
Excellent piece of kit, purchased mainly for the battery life which should be able to do the whole event using UltraMax mode. I used it normally though and gave it one quick charge on Pete’s solar charger. I accidentally left my solar charger behind - Pete’s looked like a leaf out of an A5 binder and was absolutely excellent and lightweight.
Sunglasses
Julbo Photochromatic.
These were magic and meant I didn’t need to carry goggles for sandstorms. Dark enough in the sunshine and completely clear in the dark so I could wear them at night and keep sand out of my eyes. If you can make kit multi purpose it is a win!
Mandatory Kit Items
I bought the small pack from Myracekit and it was perfect. Just bear in mind that it doesn’t have everything you need in it like a lighter or 200 euros. I also bought the footcare kit from Myracekit which included the topical disinfectant.
Suncream
Reimann p20
I saw people in the desert with sunburn which is absolutely mad I decanted the bottle into a lighter squeeze bottle and had plenty for the week. Applied once in the morning ad was done.
Headtorch
It was lightweight and easily bright enough - make sure you have a red light setting so as to not wake everyone up when you go for a night time visit to the loos.
Sleeping Bag
I am allergic to down (or so I believe) so had to steer clear of the super light down bags. I ended up with he OMM Mountain Raid bag which thankfully now comes in a larger size (called XL, check the link I I think that is normal size) for taller athletes (I’m 6’2’’). It was quite heavy at 500g but was just about warm enough - I was cold on the coldest night we had.
Pillow
Xpedit
Super lightweight no-brainer.
Sleeping Matt
Wasn’t a massive fan of this matt. It was fine and very light but as a side sleeper I probably needed something a bit more cushioned. I ended up trimming the matt down to save weight so that it ended just below my hips.
If you do bring a folding matt be sure to bring a few elastic bands to stop it from flapping open and the ends acting as an airbrake!
Camp Clothes
I wanted something to change into at the end of the stage so I bought the Raidlight Tyvek trousers and a North Face Better Than Naked T-Shirt. Both were lightweight and comfy and I ended up using them at night too when it got cold.
I wasn’t going to bring any slippers and to be honest I did just use my trainers if I was going far around camp but I did bring some incredibly thin and light rubbish hotel slippers. They weighed nothing and were fine for a night time trip to the loo.
Warm Top
I had the OMM Rotor Smock. Synthetic rather than down, lightweight, warm and comfy. Wore it in the mornings around camp. It was also a good addition at night when it got cold. (I think it has been superseded by the Sonic Smock here )
Food Preparation
I used the Esbit titanium mug (similar to this), Esbit Long spoon and the Esbit Titanium Stove, both were lightweight and worked perfectly with the Hexamine tablets purchased before hand and collected in the arrival bivouac. I bought two packs, one might have been enough but they really don’t weight that much. I also had my 2 sheets of foil as a lid and a wind break.
Food
I went with meals by Expedition Foods. I made sure to buy a selection before hand and try them. I also made sure I had one after a long run to make sure I could still stomach them. The Sappers had even arranged the self’s a tasting evening, (along with matching wines!) which is a great idea to try even more of the dishes. I stuck to Chili Con Carne and Curry’s. I also had the Cous Cous for the long stage. For breakfasts I went with the hot mango cereal which, although very sweet, was great to get me going in the morning. I chose 800kcal meals apart from breakfast day one (since you don’t carry it) and the long day breakfast. I found it hard to get the 1000kcal down on the long day but pushed through!
I also brought a powdered coffee called Rapid fire which had coconut oil in it adding another 200kcal to breakfast,
This is all obviously highly personal and you really must try your meals. One of my tent mates hadn’t tried all of his and found he couldn’t stomach them at all.
I decanted all of my meals, except breakfast day 1 and the long stage meal (long stage meal would be re-hydrated in the bag on the back of my pack in the sun) into freezer bags, cutting out the nutritional Information for the race organisers and saved about 170g of weight. When the time came to eat them I would use a bowl made by cutting a bottle in half.
For running snacks I had read that gels may not be suitable in the heat, I ended up not using them, but mainly because they are actually really heavy for the amount of calories in them. My main snacks were SIS beta fuel energy drinks, SIS energy bars, cliff bars, pepperami and cliff blocs.
The Beta Fuel energy drink has an excellent calorie to weight ratio and tons of carbohydrate per sachet. I would mix up one of my bottles with this in at the start and aim to drink half just before the first checkpoint where I would top that bottle up again with water have a slightly diluted energy drink to the next checkpoint. On the long stage I mixed up a second sachet about halfway through.
The Cliff Bloks were the caffeinated ones and were excellent and really easy to get down where as the energy bars were harder when I was tired. That said it was good to have something substantial in my stomach through the day. Pepperamis were a really treat, fat and salt! Make sure you train with the foods your going to use in the desert!
My recovery shake was SIS Rego. I had bought some Rego+ in a sale which apparently had added BCAA’s or some rubbish but I didn’t like the taste so ended up mixing up a normal portion of Banana Rego and adding a scope of the chocolate Rego+.
I took about 7 Nuun tabs, more to flavour some water at the end of the day than for electrolytes. Just use the salt tabs they give you religiously, 2 tabs per litre and a half is the recommendation.
As a snack in camp I had 1 Gu Stroopwaffel each day.
My total calories declared per day was 2500 which was perfect for me. I wasn’t hungry or lacking energy at any point.
I hope this has been useful! Listen to the podcast here.
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