30th March to 5th April 2008
Stage 6 is underway…
April 5th, 2008
9:13 am, 5 April, Town Square, San Pedro de Atacama: The competitors will set off in three starts today, and are expected to finish by 1 pm in the Town Square. American Dean Karnazes is expected to win the Atacama Crossing 2008, and Briton’s Mimi Anderson is expected to win the women’s division. Team Trifecta is the only team remaining in the team division.
Dean KarnazesMimi Anderson
Pictures from April 3rd – Dean Kaznares – Mimi Anderson
The Atacama Crossing is a 150 mile self sufficiency staged race over 7 days in the Atacama Desert in Chile, South America. Competitors must carry everything they need for the event in a back pack; the only items provided by the organisers are Tents and 9 litres of water per day per competitor. There were 73 competitors this year and only 12 women.
I set off from Kent on the 26th March heading for Heathrow Airport terminal 2; this was to be the start of a 30hr journey to San Pedro de Atacama. The first flight had an “Oh my God I’m going to die” moment. As the Air France plane was trying to land in Paris, the wheels were just about to touch down when a strong wind tipped the plane slightly meaning that the pilot had to make a quick pull up and prepare for another landing – I must say at that stage I was talking to him upstairs! The flight from Paris to Santiago was very uneventful, the films were useless so I read & slept. On the flight to Calama I met up with Martyn and his wife Brenda, an English couple who had lived for the past 20 odd years in Hong Kong. Martyn had done a few Racing the Planet events before and his wife Brenda was to be part of our marvellous crew. Arriving safely in Calama runners appeared from nowhere! Amongst the runners was PJ who was one of the competitors I chatted to on the forum so very nice to meet him – he lives and works in Singapore – during the race his luxury item was his HUGE camera! We arrived at our hotel which was fabulous. Once settled in Robin, Adil and I walked into San Pedro de Atacama – about 1 ½ km which at the moment doesn’t seem far but after the race it will seem like a marathon! We found a fantastic restaurant with excellent food – between the three of us we seemed to try everything! The next day a group of us wondered into town again for lunch – I sent a few postcards and the boys did some shopping (Tim I hope you note that it was the boys not me!) We bumped into Martyn & Brenda who were lunching with the South African contingent – so I was called over and introduced – what a marvellous bunch they are. The girls were expecting me to be a butch female because of my race profile on the site (no rude comments please!) – I was to spend a lot of time with this crowd during the race – lots of laughing and great company. Check-in day arrived. Anything we didn’t require for the race was left in our cases at the hotel. I had packed, unpacked, packed and unpacked my backpack – taking out anything I didn’t need. I was thrilled with my final weight of 8.2kg including water, not bad considering my sleeping bag weighed about 550g instead of my usual 380g and we had to have a jacket as part of the compulsory kit.
With checked in over we were eventually taken by bus to the first campsite – “Rock Carvings” which was at 3,355m. That night we feasted on chicken and salad. It was so windy that most people ate in their tents rather than round the camp fire. My home for the week was tent No. 1 Ojos de Salado, this I shared with the Chilean team and three guys from the US – Matt Nelson, Brad Howe and Jim Molaschi – amazingly none of them snored and they looked after me well – you would have thought that being the only female in the tent I would have been given a bit of preferential treatment – NO SUCH LUCK, they did however look very fetching when they borrowed by sparkly slip slops, brought out their feminine side!!! Most competitors slept really badly tonight due to the cold – I slept like a log!
Race day arrived – I was up at 5.30am, had my coffee and breakfast then got myself ready for the first stage. At 8am on the 30th March we were off – I was so nervous but managed to get myself under control. The first section was described as difficult – 13.4 km of ups and downs going up to 12,000 feet, it was rather like running with several pairs of socks in your mouth! I was struggling a bit at this stage as I hadn’t managed to get rid of my cough so was using my inhaler a lot – however, I managed to get to CP! in just under 2 hours. Between CP1 and 2 was down hill on sand so difficult running but was pleased with my progress. Part of the route went through a canyon, extremely hot but amazing.CP2 – 3 was the most difficult. We had to walk 3 ½ km over loose rock, I twisted my ankle 3 times so decided to walk, this was then followed by a 5km uphill section. Normally 5km uphill wouldn’t be a problem, but remember that all of this is at altitude, very seep and extremely hot. I met up with Johann who was struggling a bit so we kept each other company which was marvellous. We finally arrived at CP3 with only 5km of undulating terrain to go. We finished together in a time of 5hrs 41 – 1st lady, now all I need to do is keep my place! (41.4km) I think all the competitors agreed this was the hardest first day anyone had experienced on a staged race!
Camp 2 was called IncaOnce again we set off at 8am, today was slot Canyon day! The first section of the day was quite beautiful, we ran through a gorge down to the river which we had to cross several times. People with poles had an advantage today as they could feel their way through the water – I nearly fell in a couple of times but was rescued by Matt – I held onto his pack as we went across the river – I know pathetic and very girlie!!! The water was icy cold and it takes a couple of minutes for your feet to feel normal again, but was worth it all because of the scenery. On leaving the river we had a long climb which included a tunnel. After leaving the tunnel we took a sharp left hand turn up ANOTHER steep hill, this is where I met up with Paul, Rusty and John – we continued together along the ridge enjoying the stunning views around us. One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was running down this fantastic sand dune – it made you feel like a child, great fun. The last section of today was all fairly flat which should have been easy running, unfortunately I was really struggling to breath and could only manage to run in short bursts before going into a walk again to catch my breath – extremely frustrating and I was getting very angry with myself. I finally arrived into camp in a time of 7hrs 10 (41.8km) My throat tonight was sore and I was coughing up a lot of nasty stuff so went to the medics to see what they could do – I was told that it sounded as though I had bronchitis so I asked if I could have some antibiotics – answer came back no, but I managed to get some from another competitor, before taking them I did however check with a doctor who was a competitor that I was doing the right thing – let’s hope they help. Luckily for the other competitors I lost my voice so peace at the camp!! (You can imagine the comments!) Stage 3 started on a track then straight onto the salt flats, through long grass then onto a hard track, ran all the way getting to CP1 in 1hr 19 mins so very pleased with myself. My breathing wasn’t too bad but it was relatively flat so wasn’t having to work very hard. CP1 – 2 took just over an hour, we then had to cross over a main road followed by 9k of salt flats. They were awful and I really slowed down during this stage. My left ankle kept on twisting which was pulling the muscle on the side of my leg. I didn’t feel very confident on the salt flats and I think tensed up too much. The final section to CP3 was sand dunes. My energy levels were low at this time so I managed to get ½ a gel into me – really couldn’t manage any more as I would have been sick. CP3 to home was hell – lots of running on sand and salt which wasn’t too bad, then endless steep sand dunes to climb, then down a STEEP dune followed by a climb up a rock face – when I saw what we had to climb I thought they were joking but no, there were the little pink flags!!. The last section was undulating and went on and on, eventually finishing on a very steep uphill dune to the camp! Home for the night had been in view for about an hour before we got there!!! I finished in 6hrs 38 again as 1st Lady (40km)
Stage 4 was another marathon distance – Today was salt flats day!!!. The day started with a climb out of camp over a rocky area which was undulating for 9 ½ km, then zig zagged down sand and into a ravine, and then dropping down into a stream covered in bamboo so it was very difficult to find the correct route, finally running along an aqueduct to CP1. After CP1 we had more sand, ran through a village where a lot of people bought coke – I unfortunately hadn’t got any money with me so just kept going! At the end of the village we crossed a bridge then turned left which lead to gravel plain which went on and on and on leading towards the forest where we would find CP2. After CP2 there were 14km of salt flats all the way to CP3. Why they are called salt flats I will never know, it’s like walking on Coral without the water, extremely painful. I met up with Matt and Jim – for once in my life I didn’t talk I was too busy concentrating on where I should put my feet! It was EXTREMELY hot and made worse as the sun reflects off the salt. Matt and Jim had stopped in the village and bought 2 bottles of coke which they very kindly shared with me, so every 45 minutes we would have a swig each – TOTAL HEAVEN – thanks boys!!! As we were coming up to CP3 the wind really picked up, the sun went in – we could have been in the UK! The final 6km to the campsite was along a dirt road which should have been easy – OH NO, for the first time in over 50 years there was rain in the Atacama Desert! The wind was blowing at about 40ish miles per hour so I had to cover my mouth and as much of my face as I could with my buffs, head down and continue walking into the wind – then came the rain along with the sand – it was the most EXPENSIVE exfoliation I will ever have! Joking aside, it was agony as I was wearing a short sleeved T-shirt and shorts; it was like being sand blasted!Meanwhile at camp a lot of the tents had been blown down, bits of metal were flying everywhere and Brad who had been sitting in our tent had literally been blown away with the tent – luckily he didn’t sustain any bad injuries. I finished today as 1st female again in a time of 8hrs 26 minutes – not very good, but I had finished in one piece.
Stage 5/6 was the longest day 73.5 km. There was to be a staggered start today. Due to the storm the evening before the start was delayed by an hour as a lot of the PINK marker flags had been blown away. The first group set off at 8.30 followed by the second and faster group at 9.30. I was in the 2nd group and was the only PINK person. I don’t like staggered starts as I have to spend the rest of the stage overtaking t everyone!
The first section today was 15km of salt flats – can you believe it, especially after yesterday. I managed to fall over 3 times so a lot of swearing going on – I think probably a bit too loud as I had my music in!! Was thrilled when I got to CP1, Sim & Kim (the two South African girls) were there and Ele so three down 7 to catch! Between CP1 and 2 I managed to overtake quite a few people stopping for a chat along the way – Mark & Tony from SA were on flying form and looking strong – they talk more than me!!! At CP2 Craig was having an IV as he was struggling to keep anything down and was very dehydrated. The next section was undulating again, more salt flats, sand & rocks, I then found myself at the foot of a VERY VERY long dune – unfortunately this time I had to climb up it. I only stopped once to have a look at the marvellous views, once at the top there was a section of saddled salt flats – these are rather like a patch work quilt with ridges between the patches so not too difficult, then another high dune where I finally over took the last two girls before running down a dune to CP3 at the bottom. After CP3 I turned right across the gravel into the valley, up one side and down the other – got to CP4 in the dark. There were storms in the mountains dumping snow on one side and a fantastic sunset on the other – how marvellous was that. The wind had picked up at this stage so I put my jacket on.CP4 – 5 was fairly straight forward along a track going through a mine field (interesting!) finally reaching CP5 where they had hot water. Unfortunately for me the boys had got their 10 minutes before me and were about to head off so I filled my bottles with water, grabbed some food out of my pack and set off with them eating as I went. The last section started with a 3 ½ km very steep climb, we met up with Stephane who was really struggling at this point so the 4 of us stayed together. We went through the most stunning canyon known as Valley of the Moon, which included going through a cave, had to clamber down 2 vertical waterfalls (No water though!!) finally getting to camp in 14 hrs – too long but again 1st lady. It was great to have company on this last section of the longest day. LAST STAGE. This was a mere 9.7km. I was more nervous at the start of today than I have been at any other stage. We had three starts today and I was in the middle start which was marvellous. Matt and I ran together today, I really struggled to get my breathing right and was almost hyperventilating – BUT 1hr 18 minutes later I completed the Atacama Crossing 2008 as 1st female and 20th overall.
This was without doubt the hardest STAGED race I have ever done, but also the most beautiful. The race had altitude, salt flats, gravel beds, sand, sand dunes, river crossings and canyons! The camp in the evening was full of life and great fun; we even had music while sitting round the camp fire and a constant supply of hot water.I would like to thank all the other competitors for making this such a wonderful race, it was an honour to meet you all and race with you. I have come home with some marvellous memories and some marvellous friends.People always ask me why I do what I do – my answer is always the same I love running and am lucky and privileged enough to be able follow my dream running in some of the most beautiful parts of the world, I can never think of a reason why I can’t do something!!! So if you have a dream whether it’s to run a marathon, trek in the Himalayas, learn how to ride a horse or visit another country it doesn’t matter what it is – GIVE IT A GO, life is too short for “what ifs”.
