31 March 2008

Day 2: 38km - Update from Markus

Dear all, first a big thank you for all the emails - keep them coming, they help sooo much. Today I took a different approch & powerwalked the whole distance - I truly enjoyed the day, took photos along the way & never had any problems - best of all I only overtook people all day long & finished with a sprint together with Josh just a bit over 6 hrs! Feel great and look forward to 2moro; 40 km with dunes & hills - bugger! We lost 1 Aussie today, Keith just did not have the strenght to get through the 42° heat - we crossed dried out lakes covered with million year old fossiles laying around - felt like walking in a frying pan! We climbed sand hills & ran through villages. Kids poped up in the middle of nowhere to cheer us on - our passing through must be the highlight of the year for them. The country side is magic - harsh, dry & unforgiving. 1 small blister on the right big toe & sore knees but in great form - just need to get the pack weight down & then I can start running! Regards

30 March 2008

Day 1: 31km - Update from Markus

Survived hardest run ever. 1st 14km high sanddunes - walked all with Josh. Shoes great - not much Sand on feets. 2nd part was across a moon like, black rock plateau - HOT but I ran to get out of it & left Josh behind. Last part was bloody sanddunes again, did not eat enough & Backpack got really painful - had 11kg. 500m before finish I had to lay down, fainted & some kind runner stayed with me, slowly came to again & after a drink & some gel I managed to stagger to finish. 5.15 hrs, Josh 1 hr later. Was lucky to find an extra waterbottle which I drank on the spot. After 1,5 l of recovery drink and food I feel much better. Will have to go slower 2moro & eat more.Runners still come in now - 10 hrs after start. 38 km to go 2moro, more dunes, more heat but it is all fun, right? Check offical site for results & roadmap.
Love to everone from Sahara.

Press Release - Stage 1

Press release from the official Marathon des Sables website:

Weather conditions at 8.00am: 20,8 °C, 31% hygrometry
Weather conditions at 12.00am: 36,8 °C, 18% hygrometry

1st Stage Men Ranking and General Ranking:
1. Mohamad Ahansal (1) 2h31m
2. Samir Akhdar (2) 2h47m
3. Salameh Al Aqra (71) 2h47m
4. Mustapha Ait Amar (4) 2h47m
5. Jorge Aubeso (622) 2h48

1st Stage Women Ranking and General Ranking
1. Touda Didi (6) 3h36m

801 competitors, amongst which 94 women, set off this morning for an unusually long and difficult opening stage. With hardly more than a kilometre to warm up, our enthusiastic bunch of runners were confronted with the Merzouga dunes. Those 13 kilometres allowed a clear lead to emerge. Unsurprisingly, at CP1, the favourites Ahansal, Aqra and Ait Amar were on each other’s heels. Starting on the long rocky plateau that leads to the second set of dunes, Mohamad Ahansal moved to top speed and left everyone on the spot. In black and yellow settings (rocks and sand), the race got slightly crazy, exploding with young Ahansal’s incredible pace. He reached the finish line way ahead of anybody else, more than fifteen minutes before his direct competitors, slightly shock shelled from Ahansal’s performance: “I’ve been alone from kilometre 7; of course I miss my brother, we had the same pace, but I’m happy with my day”.Jorge Aubeso (Spain) also did a fine race. He himself was pleasantly surprised: “I don’t think I’m 1st place material, but my knee’s getting better by the day and I can be a patient man…”A less pleasant surprise for Jordan Salameh El Aqra’ who found the course harder than expected and also had to deal with tummy trouble.Today the Marathon des Sables was particularly worthy of its name: sand was on the menu, starter, main and pudding. And it’s only the beginning…

29 March 2008

Press Release - Check in Day

Press release from the official Marathon des Sables website:

29/03/2008 - Administrative and technical checks

Conditions at 1.30pm :36,7 °C, 17% hygrometry

The caravan of the 23rd Marathon des Sables set camp at the foot of the most impressive Merzouga dunes: a grand setting for a most challenging race. On the menu this week: 245 kilometres of sand, rocks, dream, wind, sweat and… food self sufficiency. But before the fun can start, some essential formalities must be complied with: safety material and medical checks, together with the handing out of distress flares and numbered breast plates. This year’s novelty: runners are equipped with an electronic device that will automatically register their going through check points and their timing. This edition promises to be a tough one: not only is it the longest ever but it also kicks off with Morocco’s highest dunes - a 31,6 kilometres long first heat that could do much damage. Not enough to demoralize our competitors, only too happy to be facing the enemy at last. Old hands mix with newcomers who get to discover the special atmosphere of the caravan, bringing together 32 nationalities and people coming from all walks of life, from policeman to baker, and psychiatrist to former football coach. Let the party begin!

28 March 2008

Here they go!!!

An update by Uli (Markus's wife, who only runs in cases of emergency)

The busses for the base camp have left! A highly excited US-Canadian-Australian contingent of runners had met today at 9am to board their coaches for the 5 hours drive to the desert.

As soon as they had taken their seats, they were handed their roadbook, informing them of the - until then secret -route of the race. This MDS will lead from Merzouga through the desert to Tazzarine.

This means that the runners will have to cross the high sand dunes of Erg Chebbi in the very first stages when their backpacks are still heavily ladden with food.

During the hours of waiting for the departure, Markus had discovered that he is not 100% happy with his race goggles, so I decided to ditch back to the hotel to get his spare sunnies.

To my shock, I saw the first busses leave while still sprinting back from the hotel, and I could only hand over the glasses at the very last moment before missing Markus's departure!

It was very emotional to wave him and the other runners good-buy. Next time I will catch up with them is in the desert at the finish of stage 5, a full marathon.

I'm afraid they will look nothing like the freshly showered and shaven bunch I farewelled only 2 hours ago!

Cheers from Quarzazate (where it takes 5 times longer to write due to an Arabic-French keyboard)

27 March 2008

Greetings from Ouarzazate

Finally arrived in the desert town Ouarzazate after a great drive over snow covered mountains. Trees and shade are already a rare sight here and we just got told that it is very hot out there....out there means where the race will be and where there is bloody nothing.

Josh arrived last night after 48 hrs flight and I had to help him pack and sort out food to get ready. One more night of nerves and sorting out last little things and then we are off on the bus for 5 hours to the camp!

18 March 2008

Off we go!

Finally - a plane to catch in 2 hours! Ready as ready I can be!
Now I only need to get all my race gear and food through customs as carry on baggage....don't want to risk loosing anything I need to survive the race :-)
Next blog from Morocco!

15 March 2008

Packed and ready to go

Finished packing my bag and ended up with 11.2kg. Quite happy as I expected to have much more. So now it is fine tuning and trying to get rid of a few bits and pieces to get as close to 10kg as possible for the starting weight.

Half of the weight is just food - I tried hard to reduce this without getting under the minimum of 2000 calories we need to show per day to the organisiers.



My running equipment comes to about 1.700 kg including shoes and watch/GPS. I guess there is not much hope that it will look anything close to the colours I start with when I cross that finish line 245 km and 7 days later :-)

So that's it - of on Wednesday to Morocco. Please bear with me now for the next few weeks as I won't have much access to Internet or phone but I will try my best to contact Phillippa with my status and progress as often as possible - so you will have an idea of my whereabouts in the desert of
Morocco.

'See' you all on the other side of the race at the finish! And keep an eye out for race number 528!

10 March 2008

The heat is on....

The week ended with a 4 hours jog and walk along the coast
helping the Marathon Man distributing his flyer's for his fundraiser gala dinner this coming Thursday evening at the IMAX cinema in Darling Harbour http://www.marathonman.com.au/

We got quite a lot attention in our outfits and interest from
people inquiring about reason for our dress-up.
I ended up getting a good training in completing 100 km for the week and with a knee still kind of in tack.
Today I went to a Bikram Yoga class to get some heat training done - very nice sweating but too hard for me knee - all those twists and balancing exercises, so not so sure if I will go back as I am afraid to damage the knee more.
Less then 20 days to go!!!

08 March 2008

Sweeper got swiped...

Could hardly find the start yesterday morning in the thick fog after Friday nights storm up in Katoomba but eventually the bus found its way to the starting line of the 6ft track marathon.
I was kind of weary heading out for this though run with 10kg on my back and my doggy knee but it was a great opportunity to try out my race gear and test last little bits and pieces. All looked fine at the start when Action Jackson handed my the broom and off we went at 8.35am at the end of a record field of runners down the steep steps towards Cox River and the Jenolan Caves.....
The up and downs took a toll and especially the steep downhills together with the heavy backpack did not go down well with my knee and I started to slow down and after about 4 hours and 26km I got swiped away by my fellow sweeper as I did not want to hold them up.
I continued slowly on my own (out of the race) and did all the flat bits of the race course to cover about 37 km in 5 1/2 hours. Even so my knee feels like a thousand knifes are stuck in it I was happy to at least hold up for more then 5 hours and I also found a few problems with my gear which I can now fix before heading off to Morocco.
There are a few more long runs on my training plan the next 2 weeks but I guess I will have to walk them more the running - to keep my knee happy and together till 6th April.

04 March 2008

The route for 2008

The below report just got posted on the offical website - so looks like a few more K to go this year....
"The route for 2008 is 245.3 Km long, making it the longest ever in the history of the MARATHON DES SABLES. The race will be challenging from day one - and continue that way - offering all the variety of the Sahara. The course will take runners over ergs (dune zones), seriously steep jebels (up to 25% slope factor) and rocky plateaus. They’ll have to cross hard as iron salt-flats and the driest of wadis. The backdrop to all of this is the most beautiful of landscapes with vistas accessible only to those on foot. The desert has its secret gardens and competitors on MDS will be lucky enough to find them...."

02 March 2008

Run4Vision visits Marathon Man

Visiting Trent running on his treadmill at Rebel Sport in
Bondi Junction last weekend. The Marathon Man is
organising a fundraising event at the IMAX next Thursday,
13 March 2008 for Facing Africa.
Check out http://www.marathonman.com.au/index2.html for details and booking options. Looks like a great night of entertainment with dinner, auctions and fun in support of Facing Africa helping the hundreds of thousands of kids suffering from Noma.

Relaxing week

Well, certainly took the doc's advise to heart and enjoyed a relaxing week - only 40km all in all and my knee is holding up fine.
Uli and I enjoyed a very nice weekend away - first wedding anniversary after 4 years of marriage.


Lot's of good food, wine, great concert in the Jenolan Caves with
Didjeridu Dingo!


I will be back up there next Saturday running the 6ft Track marathon as my final preparation - with all my gear and equipment for the Marathon des Sables - final test!

This weekend I did some slow running and walking with the
Backpack - a nice change from the normal running. The nice
spa at the end of every day was a great bonus in our very
secluded and great hideaway in the Blue Mountains

A bit of running and lot's of x-training until Saturday - then 7 - 8 hours of running and walking the 6ft Track plus a couple of hours on Sunday will close up my final week of heavy training - after that it is reducing and getting ready for Morocco.