TUFF MUTHERS HAVE COMPLETED THE MARATHON DES SABLES 2001
We have returned from participating in the TOUGHEST FOOTRACE ON EARTH, clutching our well-earned medals and feeling very proud of our achievements.
This year was the hardest since 1995 in terms of temperature over 50 degrees.
We had a camera crew that was to follow us round for the whole race, so of course my eyelashes had been tinted (much to my camera ladies amusement!) and legs waxed. The medical backup during the race was second to none known as “Doc Trotters”.
They are a 40 strong team who watch and monitor the competitors throughout the race.
At each checkpoint (CP) there would be a Doc Trotter tent and during the hottest part of the day they would drive along the course to check all was well.
The medical team had the authority to pull competitors off the race or give intravenous drips where necessary (an IV would incur a time penalty and if more than two were given the runner was disqualified).After a 6-hour coach journey we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere and then picked up by what can only be described as rubbish lorries which took us the further 4km to camp 1.We spent 2 days here having all our equipment checked and making sure that everyone had their compulsory kit which consisted of pen knife, anti-venom pump, compass, antiseptic, torch, 10 safety pins, lighter, sleeping bag and backpack (penalties were given if the correct equipment was not found).Due to swelling feet the organizers recommend that your trainers are 2 – 2.5 sizes larger! Mine were a men’s size 9 can you imagine, huge great flippers at the end of your legs – not very flattering! Attached to these I had made gaiters out of parachute fabric which we glued to the bottom of the trainers to stop the sand coming in.
Max and I decided to try and keep our pack weight down by taking pot noodles squashed up for our main evening mean – how I hate pot noodles now.
Louise decided on Mountain House food which by all accounts was very good. My luxury on the eating department were peanuts, I can’t tell you how MARVELLOUS they tasted at the end of a day. Finally, 1st April arrives (we are given 10 hours to do 25km).
The day we had spent the last year preparing ourselves for.
Countdown in French and we were off. The 25km distance was not too bad, mostly over dried up riverbeds and “small dunes”.Going through the dunes was fairly hard work as the sand was very soft so our feet sank. . We all made it feeling good but a bit nervous about day two. Having arrived safely back to camp we made our recover drink and evening meal – bed was early tonight!
DAY 2 22 miles DUNES DAY (12 HOURS) Today we were to climb the second highest dunes in the world – thank goodness for our walking poles they proved to be invaluable. The views were breathtaking, I can’t even begin to describe just how majestic the dunes were, they make you feel the size of an ant! At checkpoint 1 (CP1) we were only given 500mls of water which had to keep us going through the remainder of the dunes, but being the determined women that we are we made it out the other side. CP1 was very small.
As no vehicles were able to get there they had to drop the water and officials off by plane – as you can imagine the queue (the only one we had all week) was very long and the temperatures were getting hotter by the minute.
At the end of the day there was a cruel twist in the tail – yet more dunes, this time not as high and beautiful but smaller and very steep for 4km – very hard work I had to keep on telling myself that the camp was just up the next dune!
The sight of the camp that day was MARVELLOUS. We all thoroughly enjoyed today, the beauty and sheer size of the dunes is quite overwhelming.
DAY 3 24 miles (11 HOURS).Today was supposed to be quite easy – it was a tough course through wadies, dried up lake beds where the temperature soared, up hills, down valleys, you name it we had it.
Between CP2 and 3 I had a real problem, all my energy had gone and to eat anything made me feel sick and to make matters worse there was no shade to be seen.
The girls were amazing, they took some of my non-essential kit out of my pack and put it into theirs, and off we set to CP3. Once there we could sit in a tent out of the sun, Louise gave me one of her energy gels and 20 mins later off we went – my strength had returned and I felt marvellous once more. Having passed through the finish line we received our 4 bottles of water and were told by the officials that we had to have a spot check on our kit which meant going to a tent unpacking the contents of our packs – again, having our food weighed to show that we had not thrown some away to keep our weight down and showing that we still had all our compulsory kit.
I had a bit of a hairy moment when I couldn’t find my lighter (I had lent it to someone the night before), luck was on my side and it was hidden in a corner!
We were given the all clear and set off to our tent.
Max and I went to Doc Trotters to have our feet looked at.
Poor Max’s feet were in a really bad way so they had to take huge amounts of her skin off to stop infection (a lot of screaming goes on in Doc Trots!!).
I suddenly felt very weak and was taken to the IV tent by a Doctor who after trying to get me to drink asked if I wanted to finish the race to which of course I replied YES.
I had not come all this way to fail, so I was given an IV (20 mins penalties).
I had three bags of saline solution which rehydrates your body and makes you feel human again! All back to normal I went home to my tent!
To give you an idea of what Doc Trotters is like, it reminded me very much of that program M.A.S.H. – people walking around on their sore feet hardly being able to put one foot in front of the other, others being sick, some with diarrhoea, it was a war zone.
DAY 4 THE LONGEST DAY 52 miles.We had 40 hours to complete this stage, but had to reach CP4 by 1am.
Today the Elite runners didn’t set off until after us – you can imagine how depressing it was when at CP2 they over took us all. It was the first time that most of us would have seen them, I couldn’t believe the speed they ran at and their packs looked SO SMALL and light. When they received their water rations most of it seemed to go over their bodies rather than in!We got there at 9.45pm which was very good timing, but due to the IV the night before I had to find all my strength in the last half hour to get there – once again being part of a team was a huge help.Our plan was to spend 2 hours there, eat something and move on.
We sat down cooked our evening meal which I sadly was not able to keep down, so the doctors said we had to stay the night at the CP and move on in the morning.
After 6 hours sleep we set off at 5.30am. Our camera crew (Katie and Mat) had been trying to find us all night and finally caught up with us just before we left.
We made fast progress to CP5 and again CP6, which was the final CP.
14km and we would be back at camp. The final 14KM was hard work, the final stretch being through a dried up river bed with temperatures very high they appeared even higher when walking along the wadi as there was no wind. We found out later that a lot of competitors complained about this final stage they thought it was too long with not enough water, the organizers agreed! (Last year the longest day was only 49 miles!).
29 hours later we arrived into camp to cheers and clapping from everybody – makes it all worthwhile. The camp that night looked rather like a scene from M.A.S.H.
DAY5 – MARATHON DAY After The last couple of days, today should be easy! It was a fairly flat course which gives the elite runners a chance to do some good times – and of course us! Max was finding it very diffuclt to twlk today as her feet were in a bad way, so we went at her pace. A difficult start to say the least, as I felt very dehydrated and rather lethargic, pulled myself together and off we set.It’s amazing that once you start racing you’re in a different frame of mind – you want to finish regardless. I had a pretty good day today.Day 6 – 13 MILES – 6 Hours.The 30 slowest people set off at 8am today followed by the rest of us at 9.
Again the course was not too bad but the temperatures was very high and as you can imagine people were tired after the previous few days, but with every ounce of energy we kept going. 2km before the end the three of us changed into little purple glittery dresses which we had carried with us (as the rules of the race state) and ran through the village towards the finish line to great cheers from doctors, locals, camera crew, everybody it was great.
The finish line was finally in sight; we held hands and ran to receive our well-earned medals.
It was the most wonder, marvellous fantastic feeling finally crossing the finish line – Max was greeted by our husband Russ and Louise by a friend Adrian – I had hugs and kisses from both! On arrival back at the hotel Max had her feet seen to as they were in a bad way (not a very pleasant sight), Louise thankfully came out of the whole think feeling fine, some small blisters but nothing to write home about (lucky girl) and I had to have a further IV (this time 5 bags!) as I had had diarrhoea since day two and nothing would stop it, also I had began passing blood – but what the hell, I had achieved what I had set out to do.
To top it all Tuff Muthers won a prize for being the team with the best sense of humour!
The Sahara is the most majestic and beautiful place I have ever seen in my life, the landscape is so varied, one minute you are in the dunes, the next walking on a dried up riverbed, then walking up a mountain – the only real way to see this amazing place is to walk!
The friendships that you make during this race will last forever.
However tough it got I am proud and glad to have taken part in the MdS with two other great ladies.
