I’m recently back from the 36th Marathon Des Sables and since I found peoples blogs on the subject so useful in my own preparation I thought I would share my experience, what worked and what didn’t.
The week I spent in the desert far exceeded my expectations and is one of the best experiences I have had. In the run up I thought it would be mostly type 2 fun (that’s is stuff that is only fun after the fact) but can honestly say I enjoyed every minute out there.
A quick run down of the event for those who are not familiar. Marathon Des Sable is a week long ultra endurance race, set in the Moroccan Sahara. You will cover around 250k in a week where you must be self sufficient, that means carrying everything you need with the exception of your tent and water, which is rationed to you throughout each day. The race is broken down into stages, each with their own flavour with the first 3 days of 30-40k, day 4 the traditional long stage 80-90k, day 5 a rest and day 6 the 42k marathon stage. Day 7 is a compulsory but non-timed charity stage which is usually less than 10k.
Rather than posting a list of do's and don'ts I have written a 'race report' and buried all the tips and tricks I wish I had known before hand along the way. Here is a video with some of the highlights of my race
The 36th Marathon Des Sables
The contingent from Britain and Ireland flew into Errachidia on two charter flights from Gatwick. The most nerve racking part of the whole experience for me was waiting to receive my negative covid test before being allowed to fly out to Morocco. The airport was busy, with the MdS competitors easily recognisable amongst the crowds buy the back packs we all carried. The flight had a real buzz about it and was my first opportunity to meet other entrants. On arrival in Errachidia we queued for an hour as the overwhelmed border staff checked our paperwork before getting on the busses to the first bivouac. At MdS patience is most definitely a virtue.
The “road books” are issued on the bus which gave us our first glimpse of what we were to expect. Like many I flicked through to find out what lay in store for the infamous long day - 86.4km.
It felt like we had barley got on the bus when we stopped for a packed lunch and spectacular spot with views of a lush green oued.
Back on the busses and before I knew we had arrived at the first bivouac. It’s an impressive sight with hundreds of tents arranged in a horseshoe. Having been unable to persuade any of my friends to come along on this crazy adventure I had been assigned to tent 56 where I met those that would become my family for the week.
There are 8 to a tent, which consists of a rug in the floor and a goats hair sheet held up by sticks. The berbers up assemble the bivouac quickly and so it’s a necessary to roll up the rug and remove the stones that sit beneath. The afternoon is spent arranging your kit and sleeping bag and getting to know your tent mates. One of mine, Dom, confessed to being a prodigious snorer before gingerly offering out earplugs to everybody. It's the thought that counts. In the evening there is a briefing on the following days technical check - as well as how to use the makeshift toilets, basically a bag on a stool shaped like a toilet seat. The less said the better except that it works and is as hygienic as you will get.
The first night was very cold. I had gone to bed in just my underwear but by morning was wearing pretty much everything I had and was still cold due to a stiff breeze blowing through the tent. Dom didn’t disappoint with his snoring and was joined by Pete to become tent 56’s weapons of mass sleep destruction. It wasn't until the 3rd night that we realised if you lower one side of the tent to the floor, and keep it down with rocks, that the draught stops blowing through and you stay much warmer!
The desert quickly warmed up in the morning and it was time to prepare for the technical checks. You are divided into two groups by bib number, with one group to go to technical checks between 0900-1100 and the other between 1100-1300. As well as your race kit you also take your other luggage with you as this is the point that it gets tagged and sent to your hotel for the end of the week. This means that you have this bag with you for your first night in the desert. If you are unsure how you will cope with sleeping arrangements etc. you can try things out before leaving this bag. Mine was mostly full of extra food, including a couple of extra meals incase someone had lost a bag on the flight and needed to make up a race kit. Double check you have everything you need from this bag before you go to checks as there is no going back - as I found out, leaving my solar charger inside.
The technical checks themselves are straightforward and slick. No one actually looked in my bag but weighed it (8.13kg) and checked the official checklist I had ticked and signed. (I met one competitor later that week who was appealing a penalty he was given as he hadn't ticked one of the boxes!) They did have a good look at my ECG which, due to “athletic heart” shows as abnormal. As well as the doctors sign off I also had a letter from a cardiologist a year previous stating that I was fit and healthy.
The rest of the day is yours after this. By now we were all just raring to go. Three of my tent mates were ex Royal Engineers in a team know as the Dune Sappers. To kill some time in the afternoon the Sappers, Roraigh, Dougie, and Barry decided to go for a trek up one of the hills surrounding the camp. The rest of us decided that with 250km ahead of us we might just stay in our tent. They returned after a couple of hours with Dougie’s sand gaiters already ripped! Fortunately, Roraigh was the tent fix-it man, producing a needle, thread, parachute silk patch and superglue and made a fix that lasted all week.
After dinner it was off to bed with the start at 0830 the next morning.
The story continues...
You can listen to our episode on MdS here.
Top Tips Number 1
Make sure everything you need that can’t be replaced is on your person when travelling - shoes, backpack etc. If your hold luggage is lost you will probably be able to make a kit up from the boutique and fellow runners.
You can take extra kit for the first night and decide to send it home, or the berbers will take anything you don’t want after the second night. Can’t decide wether or not to bring your sleeping bag liner? Bring it! Send it home after night 1 if it’s not needed. I looked on enviously at those who had inflatable mattresses for the first two nights which they left to the berbers before the first stage.
Take loads of food and snacks for the travel and technical day. You can always put stuff back in your bag.
Lower one side of your tent before bed. It might not be cold now but if the wind picks up it soon will!
The bivouac is noisy! I took earplugs for sleeping but ended up keeping my airpod pros, which I had planned to leave in my bag, for the noise cancelling. If I was to do the event again I would invest in some proper noise cancelling sleep buds. Also people, if you have a red light on your head torch please use it!
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