Saturday, April 11, 2009
Marathon Des Sables 2009- The First Day
I woke up feeling a tinge of excitement and more than a tinge of nervousness- this was it- after floods, rain and mud, we were actually going to start the 2009 Marathon des Sables!!
Me, Gilly and Rach ate our prepared breakfasts and boarded the coaches for the drive to the start. It was a nice day- sunny and dry but not overbearingly hot. Oddly enough, I had mixed feelings about this- the cooler weather would make for easier walking, but I felt that we weren't going to be as challenged by the heat as we should have been.
The coaches set off down the road, pulled up at the hotel where the French contingent were, and stopped. Half an hour later, we were still there, and starting to get restless; I needed the loo as the result of over enthusiastic hydration, and was directed towards the wasteland across the road by an official.
Eventually we were on our way, and heading for the Erg Chebbi dunes- we could see them from some distance away, towering mountains of red gold sand. I suddenly felt very nevous again... this was going to be a huge ask.
The coaches pulled off road, and we could see that the start line had been erected. But first, we had to queue for water, which took a while. This was the first time my race number was written on the cap and the bottle- if it is found discarded on the course, you face a penalty. After lining up for inevitable photos, we made our way to the start- I became separated from the others after the need for a last minute pee and found myself towards the back.
Me Waiting To Start!
Patrick was standing on top of a Landrover, giving a speech which was occasionally translated into English. A lot of what he said was drowned out though by the helicopter circling low overhead. A few mad souls were celebrating birthdays, so we had to sing 'Happy Birthday' to them all, music played and then we were finally counting down to the start- "10- 9- 8- 7- 6- 5- 4- 3- 2- 1- Allez!!"
It took a while to pass through the start line, but eventually I was through and starting the MdS! It felt totally unreal... I waved to the helicopter banking overhead, filming, and my road book fell out of my front pack. Not a good start! In fact, it was to plague me all week as the top straps kept coming loose, meaning the whole thing had a tendency to tip forwards, pitching it's contents onto the sand.
Heading For The Dunes
At one point we passed a camel safari going the other way, and then we hit the dunes- perfect curves of red gold sand, straight out of a picture book. Walking up them was quite steep and took some effort, but I suspect that the sand was more compacted than it would normally be due to the rain. Coming down was great fun though, and easy even for me!
Dune Day!
There were locals on bikes keeping us company, plus young boys trying to sell us necklaces with fossils- this made me smile as they had plagued us in Ouazazate and Erfoud, and someone had said that we would probably come across them in the middle of the dunes! I caught up with Rach, and we walked the rest of the stage together.
Me And Rach In The Dunes
The Erg Chebbi Dunes
we walked for a few minutes with an American guy, Curtis, who appeared to be very impressed that we had been at the first bivouac and wanted to hear all about it. We felt quite pleased that we were there, as we seemed to have attained a celebrity status!
The dunes went on for some time; around 13 kilometres, I quite enjoyed them and really felt the benefits of the hill training I'd done! Eventually we left the higher dunes behind, and gradually descended to a plain and the first checkpoint, where we were given more water.
The First Checkpoint
Shelters had been erected here, so we stopped for a few minutes and were soon joined by Rose and Carol. I ate a few M & M's and refilled my water bottles. Then we were off again, over an endless plain.
Endless Plain
These plains seem to be a feature of the event- you can see a mountain range in the distance, and assume that you are walking towards it quite quickly, but two hours later you are still walking towards it and it doesn't seem any closer! Apparently the organisers are fond of putting in these stages to mess with your head! The route was marked out with yellow and orange signs so was fairly easy to follow.
After what seemed an age, we reached a ruined village and fort, with the second checkpoint beyond. I went inside one of the houses for a wee!
We stopped for another rest, and I changed my socks, putting the wet ones in the front mesh pocket to dry. Carol came in and said that she had seen a guy being given an IV drip- me and Rach later realised we had been talking to him not long before, which was pretty sobering. We decided to press on- across another plain to a sandy climb.
Endless Horizons
Here the route passed along hillside covered with small rocks, which threatened to turn your ankle. We followed the signs to a sandy track, then heard shouts; one of the organisers was calling that we were going the wrong way. They had had to reroute the course up and over another hill due to floods. We followed directions and Land Rovers parked in the distance as markers back into the dunes, and I realised that I had lost one of the socks from the front pack- I retraced my steps a few hundred yards but never found it.
Back Into The Dunes
I was quite pleased to be back into the dunes, as they were beautiful; the evening sun created shadows accentuating the lines of the dunes, and they glowed a perfect yellowush gold. As we reached the highest point, we had our first sight of the bivouac;
Our First Sight Of The Bivouac
Dunes
There followed a gentle descent out of the dunes towards the camp. The rest of our tent had waited to see us in, and I managed a short sprint at the end, stopping short of the line to walk across it with Rach. It felt good to be in the bivouac, and we made our first attempt to cook a meal. It was so windy, it took many of our Esbrit tablets to boil even a little bit of water!
We were all very tired, although not in bad shape, so as the setting sun turned the dunes purple, we snuggled into our sleeping bags and tried to sleep. We had been told that the following day's route was to be a big circle back to the bivouac, rather than moving camp to a different location- another first for the Marathon des Sables.
Me, Gilly and Rach ate our prepared breakfasts and boarded the coaches for the drive to the start. It was a nice day- sunny and dry but not overbearingly hot. Oddly enough, I had mixed feelings about this- the cooler weather would make for easier walking, but I felt that we weren't going to be as challenged by the heat as we should have been.
The coaches set off down the road, pulled up at the hotel where the French contingent were, and stopped. Half an hour later, we were still there, and starting to get restless; I needed the loo as the result of over enthusiastic hydration, and was directed towards the wasteland across the road by an official.
Eventually we were on our way, and heading for the Erg Chebbi dunes- we could see them from some distance away, towering mountains of red gold sand. I suddenly felt very nevous again... this was going to be a huge ask.
The coaches pulled off road, and we could see that the start line had been erected. But first, we had to queue for water, which took a while. This was the first time my race number was written on the cap and the bottle- if it is found discarded on the course, you face a penalty. After lining up for inevitable photos, we made our way to the start- I became separated from the others after the need for a last minute pee and found myself towards the back.
Me Waiting To Start!
Patrick was standing on top of a Landrover, giving a speech which was occasionally translated into English. A lot of what he said was drowned out though by the helicopter circling low overhead. A few mad souls were celebrating birthdays, so we had to sing 'Happy Birthday' to them all, music played and then we were finally counting down to the start- "10- 9- 8- 7- 6- 5- 4- 3- 2- 1- Allez!!"
It took a while to pass through the start line, but eventually I was through and starting the MdS! It felt totally unreal... I waved to the helicopter banking overhead, filming, and my road book fell out of my front pack. Not a good start! In fact, it was to plague me all week as the top straps kept coming loose, meaning the whole thing had a tendency to tip forwards, pitching it's contents onto the sand.
Heading For The Dunes
At one point we passed a camel safari going the other way, and then we hit the dunes- perfect curves of red gold sand, straight out of a picture book. Walking up them was quite steep and took some effort, but I suspect that the sand was more compacted than it would normally be due to the rain. Coming down was great fun though, and easy even for me!
Dune Day!
There were locals on bikes keeping us company, plus young boys trying to sell us necklaces with fossils- this made me smile as they had plagued us in Ouazazate and Erfoud, and someone had said that we would probably come across them in the middle of the dunes! I caught up with Rach, and we walked the rest of the stage together.
Me And Rach In The Dunes
The Erg Chebbi Dunes
we walked for a few minutes with an American guy, Curtis, who appeared to be very impressed that we had been at the first bivouac and wanted to hear all about it. We felt quite pleased that we were there, as we seemed to have attained a celebrity status!
The dunes went on for some time; around 13 kilometres, I quite enjoyed them and really felt the benefits of the hill training I'd done! Eventually we left the higher dunes behind, and gradually descended to a plain and the first checkpoint, where we were given more water.
The First Checkpoint
Shelters had been erected here, so we stopped for a few minutes and were soon joined by Rose and Carol. I ate a few M & M's and refilled my water bottles. Then we were off again, over an endless plain.
Endless Plain
These plains seem to be a feature of the event- you can see a mountain range in the distance, and assume that you are walking towards it quite quickly, but two hours later you are still walking towards it and it doesn't seem any closer! Apparently the organisers are fond of putting in these stages to mess with your head! The route was marked out with yellow and orange signs so was fairly easy to follow.
After what seemed an age, we reached a ruined village and fort, with the second checkpoint beyond. I went inside one of the houses for a wee!
We stopped for another rest, and I changed my socks, putting the wet ones in the front mesh pocket to dry. Carol came in and said that she had seen a guy being given an IV drip- me and Rach later realised we had been talking to him not long before, which was pretty sobering. We decided to press on- across another plain to a sandy climb.
Endless Horizons
Here the route passed along hillside covered with small rocks, which threatened to turn your ankle. We followed the signs to a sandy track, then heard shouts; one of the organisers was calling that we were going the wrong way. They had had to reroute the course up and over another hill due to floods. We followed directions and Land Rovers parked in the distance as markers back into the dunes, and I realised that I had lost one of the socks from the front pack- I retraced my steps a few hundred yards but never found it.
Back Into The Dunes
I was quite pleased to be back into the dunes, as they were beautiful; the evening sun created shadows accentuating the lines of the dunes, and they glowed a perfect yellowush gold. As we reached the highest point, we had our first sight of the bivouac;
Our First Sight Of The Bivouac
Dunes
There followed a gentle descent out of the dunes towards the camp. The rest of our tent had waited to see us in, and I managed a short sprint at the end, stopping short of the line to walk across it with Rach. It felt good to be in the bivouac, and we made our first attempt to cook a meal. It was so windy, it took many of our Esbrit tablets to boil even a little bit of water!
We were all very tired, although not in bad shape, so as the setting sun turned the dunes purple, we snuggled into our sleeping bags and tried to sleep. We had been told that the following day's route was to be a big circle back to the bivouac, rather than moving camp to a different location- another first for the Marathon des Sables.
Labels: dunes, Marathon des Sables
