It's been almost 2 years since I first spotted details of the Saharan Challenge on the Action Challenge website. I was sold on it immediately! I'd always been captivated by the Marathon des Sables but the price tag and length of the challenge had always put me off. Yet here was a chance to experience some of what the MdS offered but on a smaller, cheaper (and yes probably easier!!!) scale... 2 marathons in 2 days through the Draa valley/Sahara Desert. A chance to explore a new country and culture whilst running... in an extreme environment that sounded truly epic... hell yeah!!!! Those of you who know me well will guess that my next step was to see who I could drag along for the ride... and up stepped Rachey! Buoyed by completing her first marathon and lured by the promise of a hotel and celebration dinner, she took the bait back in April 2016 and the adventure began! For me, the distance was never going to be the challenge - the run entails 2 marathons on consecutive days, split by a camp in the desert overnight. I am no stranger to back to back marathons or ultra distances and so that, in itself, held no fear. The terrain and the temperatures, however, were going to be the test! I wasn't too concerned, however, as I had the whole summer to prepare and had been doing multiple ultra-distance and marathon runs each year and had the same planned for 2017 so my fitness would pretty much see to itself (I hoped!!!) Rachey opted to take up a charity place for the Challenge and figured that rather than just having a single challenge for the year, she would make it a year of challenges... and promptly signed up to join me for most of the 2017 season for both ultra-distance races and obstacle races! Our first real tests of our specific fitness for the challenge came back in June 2017 when both Runstock (an 8 hour obstacle race) and then The Wall (69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead) fell on consecutive hot weekends. The latter fell on the hottest day of the year. We experienced several miles of the tarmac melting beneath our feet with the resulting foot-damage making the last half marathon or so particularly painful. For Rachey, things didn't quite go to plan and she experienced her first DNF, bowing out heroically after 44 miles due to heat stress, leaving Mark and I to continue into the night. For me, it was a reminder that even my dialled-in footcare regime is not completely foolproof, as I experienced my first proper blisters in a very long time. A mental note was made to once again review my footcare systems ahead of heading into the desert. 2017 seems to have disappeared into the usual haze of marathons and ultra-distance events and I was shocked to find myself at the start of October and starting to pack my kitbag ready for the long-awaited trip. As something of a seasoned veteran of running events, I had most of the kit to hand already but had to purchase a new 'legionnaire-style' hat and opted to purchase lightweight twin-skin socks to see if they could help to deal with the heated-feet issue. With two weeks to go before departure, I started my heat acclimatization work... requiring some inventiveness in the cool of a British Autumn! With my road bike sat on a turbo trainer in my lounge at home, I built up to doing two hour sessions clothed in multiple layers, including a hoody with the hood up! I also took to heading into the steam room straight after my gym workouts and swim sessions and staying in there for up to half an hour, and in the last week I headed out for a run in several layers including a sauna suit. None of these sessions were particularly pleasant but they certainly felt like they were doing something!! These acclimatization sessions also helped me to confirm my high sweat rate (by weighing myself before and after and monitoring my intake). This was something I hadn't checked on for many years, but I knew that back in my faster marathon days, on hot days, I needed to ingest about 2 litres per hour to hold off a drop in performance due to dehydration. The weighing part of the process was almost redundant on my sweat-suited runs, as I could basically pour the sweat from out of my sleeves!!! Yes, it was pretty gross... and the weigh-ins confirmed a sweat rate of approximately 1 litre per half-hour. That was going to take some keeping on top of!! I have to admit to being pretty nonchalant about most of my events these days. Because I don't generally compete anymore (it's more about completion...), and I know that I'm generally okay up to about 100 miles/24 hours, I don't tend to get too nervous. This trait held true until about 24 hours before we were due to depart for Morocco!!! At that point, amidst a kid-at-Christmas excitement, I have to confess to having a little panic!!! I suddenly felt like I really hadn't done enough to prepare and that I had let my running slip too much over the preceding months (having focussed a lot on my cycling since July). Hey ho, too late by then... suck it up buttercup! The following 36 hours wizzed by in a blur of travelling... the 3 hour trip to Stansted, (meeting up with Alan, my friend from the Cotswold Way Challenge!) hanging around there ahead of the 3.5 hour flight to Marrakesh, then a 6 hour trip to Ourzazate, an overnight stop, and then another 1.5 hours to get to the start line! Not exactly a perfect pre-race build up and no time to acclimatize to the Moroccan heat but it was the same for all of us (we had mostly all travelled on 2 flights from the UK so had got to know one another pretty well by the time we stood at the start!) Heading away from the start line. Action Challenge had done a great job of putting together a temporary start area. We had a table of foods (mainly nuts and fruits) together with plentiful water and hot sweet Moroccan tea (a feature of most of the rest stops, and to become my new favourite thing!!!) There were also some temporary toilet facilities which were pretty impressive in view of the location! With only about 25 or 30 of us running (the rest of the group having gone out as walkers a couple of hours before), it was a fairly relaxed start line. A brief briefing, a short warm up, a countdown, and we were off! Although it was only 9.15am, it was already quite warm, (somewhere around 31 degrees C) and so we set off at a steady pace with no real idea of what lay ahead of us. So what was it like? Initially, we had the track on which to run, and trees to either side but it wasn't long before more engaging vistas opened up and we had views of the mountains and the Draa valley to distract us. The views open up ahead I have to be honest, the views were truly spectacular... and on Day 1, in particular, not what I was expecting! I will let the photos talk for themselves here, as description really doesn't work!! We saw quite a few skulls/carcasses along our way!! A reminder that the environment can be pretty harsh!! There were a few settlements along the way. The one uniting feature was the young children who would all run up to us begging (in Moroccan French) for pens. The Draa riverbed. The oasis otherwise known as our lunch stop! Using filters to bring out the contrasts between the plains, architecture and mountains... Blue paint on the stones indicates we are on the right track... with the track stretching seemingly endlessly ahead. The ridge of mountains was company for most of the day! So how was the running? I hear you ask. Well, the initial pace set by the lead group proved just a little brisk for us, so we settled into the back of the pack and found our own rhythm. Unfortunately, Rachey was finding the heat too challenging and decided early on to join into the back of the walking pack and hike it out, which she was able to do from the first checkpoint at about 6 miles in. That left Alan and I together working to our own pace. This wasn't a problem, as we had already established back at the Cotswolds that we were comfortable at one another's pace anyhow (or at least that's how I like to think of it, although I suspect Alan may choose to go a little quicker in my absence!) We didn't linger long at the first checkpoint, just taking time to deal with the bladders (water into the one one the back, water out of the internal one!!) and grab some fruit and nuts before pushing on. We had decided before we set out that we would try to mainly run (with walking breaks) for the first half of the day, and then dig in and grind out a fast paced walk once the heat got too much, and that is pretty much the plan we stuck to. By the time we came into the lunchtime stop it was getting pretty oppressively hot and we were glad to get into the shade, eat plentiful salad and drink copious amounts of sweet mint tea! I would guess that, by the time we had dealt with the bladders (both of them again!) and effected a sock change, we probably spent about 3/4 of an hour to an hour at lunch before heading off into the real heat of the day. This was where things got interesting! The weather gods had decided that the area hadn't yet had enough summer, and so offered up a brief blast of extra heat that coincided with our visit. Having been warned to prepare for temperatures in the 30s, we were suddenly faced with temperatures in the low to mid 40s! Thankfully, there was a very gentle but very welcome breeze otherwise it could have been completely unbearable! As had quickly become our way on the Cotswold Way, Alan and I once again helped one another through our inevitable low points, and watched each other for signs of problems such as dehydration, sunburn etc. We were both quite (happily) surprised by how well we were feeling and were brought back to reality with a bump when we came across two young men from the walking group who were sat in the shade but clearly in trouble from heat exhaustion, with the one lad completely unresponsive. We soaked his neck with cold water and managed to get him responding in short sentences before heading off up the road at pace to send some help. Thankfully, we didn't have to go more than a couple of hundred yards round the bend before coming across one of the support cars, who we were able to dispatch to him toute suite, but not before grabbing another 1.5 litres of water for our own consumption! By the time we came into the next rest stop at about 20 miles, we were very glad to see that the young man in question was lay recovering in the shade. Once again it was a shortish stop with a brief change of socks, re-application of sun cream to exposed areas, bladder, bladder and out! Just a 10km speed hike left to do! We ground on into the heat, slowly eating (or should that be drinking?) away at the miles. It wasn't very long after leaving the 20 mile rest stop that we could see a group of white dots on the horizon that we figured could very possibly be our camp for the night... how exciting!! It seemed to take forever to get any closer, however, and eventually disappeared from view completely leading us to think we must have been mistaken... or was it one of the mirages the deserts are famed for offering up? Eventually, a check of the distance on my watch confirmed that we couldn't be very far away at all, but no camp was in sight... but a small pink marker showed our route heading uphill... and at the top of that hill (how mean!!!!), hidden from view, lay our beautifully welcoming campsite!! We were half way! Day 1 complete!! Our incredible camp site Beautifully laid out tents, and stunning hand wash basins! Well organised communal areas with refreshing drinks and food at hand. What an incredible job Action Challenge had done on the site. Somehow, they had managed to erect all of our small tents in beautiful rows on really tough terrain and had already placed our kit bags into each of our pre-allocated tents. Food and drink was readily available including the now ubiquitous Moroccan tea and salads, but also cooled Coca-cola, Sprite, Fanta etc which was very welcome after consuming vast quantities of tepid water/hydration mix all day (Alan and I totted up our fluid consumption to approx 15 litres each during that first day's efforts!!) What was even more incredible was the shower facilities! Hidden in Berber tents at the back of the camp, I was shocked when I pulled aside the curtains to reveal a proper shower cubicle with a shower head that dispensed plentiful hot water!!! Mention must go to the latrines as well! Credit to the local team for keeping these pretty much tolerable for the majority of our time in camp... we will gloss over the slightly less ... err.. pleasant state that they were in by the time we left camp on Saturday morning! Unforgettable for all the wrong reasons!! Showered, and with fresh clothes on, we were able to relax and watch the fading light whilst welcoming in the rest of the joggers and trekkers before settling down for a three course dinner prepared by the local team. They even laid on some entertainment for us in terms of singing and dancing! With temperatures slightly cooler we were able to retire to our beds and get some much needed rest ahead of another early start for Day 2. Sunrise at camp An early start for the walkers! It was an early rise on Saturday for all on camp. The walkers were to set off before sunrise, with the runners/joggers an hour and a half later. We therefore had a steadier start to the day, rising in time to see off the walkers before tucking into our own breakfast and readying ourselves for the off, whilst the sun rose flooding the camp with light. Once again, it was a brief briefing and warm up and we were off en masse. With the first section on the flat and in the relative cool of early morning, Alan and I decided to stay with the pack for the first couple of miles. It was hard going! There was no discernible path and the ground was hard and strewn with sharp stones making it necessary to focus on every footfall. We once again established ourselves towards the back of the pack, a position with which we were perfectly happy! After a short while, I noticed that the lead group appeared to have formed a huddle and weren't moving. I considered the fact that I hadn't seen a marker flag or paint mark for some time... and checked with Alan. Neither had he... we soon caught the lead group and established that we did appear to have come off course! Great! That's what happens when you go with the group and stop thinking for yourself!! Never mind!! A review of the map and terrain ahead of us soon established where we needed to head for and we were able to intersect the actual route and rejoin it! Excitement over for now, Alan and I settled back into our rightful place in the pack and it wasn't long before we were passing the first of the back-markers from the trekkers. The day felt a lot cooler and more tolerable than Day 1, although there were only a couple of degrees difference - perhaps we were acclimatizing? I certainly didn't feel as if I was sweating as much... Onwards we pressed, through changing landscapes. Lots of stone desert, giving way to occasional settlements and palmerias, more distant mountains, sandier ground, then weird dried-out flood plains that cracked like crockery beneath our feet... Signs of life, both human and plant... This crazy-paving style landscape was loose and the inch think 'plates' cracked beneath our feet! The whole of day 2 pretty much settled into a blur of jogging and then power walking, dealing with the ins/outs of the bladders, eating, chatting... and getting slightly lost again!!! This time, the local children had taken a liking to the little pink flags which had been used to mark out our route and had made off with several of them!! It took Alan, myself and Mahmut (pictured below) about 15 to 20 minutes of concentrated searching to locate the route and continue on our way, during which time Alan managed to find a not-completely-dried-up riverbed and decided to take an impromptu mud-bath!!! (well, okay, he went base over apex into the mud anyway!!!) Like a cat licking its paws to pass a long journey, Alan was then able to pick at the quickly drying full body mud pack to pass time to the finish!!! Mahmut following the tracked sand towards the finish once we were back en route! Once we were back on track, it was only a relatively short distance across the flat sands before heading into the dunes and on towards the finish. Into the sand dunes (the tiny pink flag showing the route) And the finish line comes into sight (note Alan's slightly muddy appearance!!) The finish line was set up at Zagora Desert Camp where there were a few structures for us to shade under, and both lager and soft drinks cooling in trugs of water which were very welcome. We were allowed to linger as long as we wanted before being mini-bused back to civilisation and our hotel for the brief night stop ahead of our long transfer back to Marrakesh. We stayed long enough to see Rachey finish and then the 3 of us headed for the minibus. The medal photographed in a finish area like no other! Finish Line hugs (on Alan's non-muddy side!!!) :-D The night stop led to another early morning start and back on the mini-busses for a very long return to Marrakesh. We somehow managed to lose 3 and a half hours to a game of eye spy, which helped the miles to pass!!! Arriving in Marrakesh with a couple of hours to spare before the celebration dinner saw Alan and I dashing off to take in the sights of the souks. What an experience that was too... and for me it served to double the confusion in my brain as to where I had been and what I had been doing for the past 5 days. It was an incredible challenge physically (for me chiefly because of the heat rather than the distance), but it was far more than that. The insight it gave me into the diverse landscapes and culture of Morocco will stay with me forever. Sahara, it was a joy to have met you!
3 Comments
Ann Bennett
11/2/2017 09:02:47 am
Wow what a fantastic adventure. You must be so proud. Much love. ❤️❤️😍👏🍾
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Jan Golding
11/2/2017 12:31:48 pm
Wow, Luan, this is gripping! A brilliant read, thank you for sharing. Well done again, what an amazing achievement! Xx
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Lucy Dawkins
11/5/2017 02:30:16 pm
What a fantastic read.....incredible achievement....and lots more to come ☺️! Roll on 2018! Inspiration X
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