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| 7th April 1999 - Long Day - 74.4 Km (46.25 miles) |
It’s twenty-five years since I first ran the Marathon des Sables. 1999 feels like a very, very l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time ago indeed and life has certainly delivered many ups and downs along the way. Looking back, I was 37, and probably at my fittest ever and the MDS was only part of an 86-marathon bumper year of running – those were the days! I remember being SO excited about the race.
So, I’ll try and explain what the 14th edition of the race was like to and how it made me feel at the time. I am looking back at the adventure through some very rose-tinted spectacles and some of the details are a bit of a blur if I’m being honest. I went to Morocco, without a clue of what lay ahead, sharing the experience with a bunch of complete strangers that soon became life-long friends.
Together the desert became life-affirming and life-changing in the matter of a few short days.
From start to finish, it was amazing with around 600 people racing the ‘World’s Toughest Footrace’. (I hope that things at will continue to be amazing under its new ownership especially as this will be the longest MDS ever, at a ball-breaking 252kms). I say we raced as not many people walked back then. We didn’t have gaiters, walking poles or Garmin GPS – it was hardcore.
Nor did we have Gels or any real nutritional advice to follow as the internet didn’t really exist and no heat acclimation took place. We threw the salt tablets we were given away. Mobile phones simply didn’t work out there and music would only have been from a portable CD player or Cassette. I took photos using a small, analogue Canon Ixus camera and any communication back to the UK, was made using the organiser’s satellite phone – speaking and then saying ‘Over’ at the end of each sentence.
At the race – you went dark.
What to take was a bit of a lottery as you couldn’t find anyone who’d done the race, to interrogate for advice. The race was shrouded in mystery and was a third of its current price! Water was rationed to 1.5l a checkpoint there were warm sun-baked cans of Moroccan Coca-Cola at the finish line, along with a long queue for the cardboard boxes that the water bottles came in as that was a handy mattress. It looked like cardboard city in the tents.
The race might have been a bit shorter, but no-one could really tell how far it was each day. Pre-Garmin, all we could do for distance travelled, was to work out time elapsed to see if we were near the next checkpoint. The CPs were carefully hidden behind sand dunes, so they came into view just at the last moment for an added twist of desert cruelty.
Was it harder? Hmm – It’s hard to say - it was different. Most people ran. The kit and equipment were only as good as you could find from your local Outdoor shop – you just had to make do with what you took and beg or borrow what you’d forgotten to take. I can remember cooking-up some shocking freeze-dried meals and topping up my rations with Powerbars to make up the daily 2000Kcals requirement.
Each item of kit and all of the food taken was scrutinised by the organisation – registration took all day.
The race was VERY French which alienated some of the Brits taking part. There were some hot exchanges when some of the rules were broken in error and there was a sit-down protest as I remember, which delayed some of the British contingent starting on marathon day.
We survived though. Enough to endure a lengthy Gala Dinner and the Hotel Bel-Air before the King of Morocco dropped in by Chinook to present the trophies to the top 10 Men runners - only. It feels like a different era.
It did however leave a permanent mark on my life as I experienced a huge loss on my return which I now call Post Traumatic Race Disorder (PTRD) and to overcome the symptoms, I immediately entered the 2000 race.
And I’ve returned to the race many times since then and this year will be my 17th MDS. I wasn’t there in the years 2001-5 or 2019-22 you see, as I thought I’d given my everything out in the sand, yet I went back in 2023, which proved to be an amazing experience - so-much-so I’ve been lured out to race and live the MDS dream once again, even though at 62 I am now just an MDS-Fun-Runner.
But what’s not to like as it’s a new chapter for the race, I mean, is this the 38th MDS or the 1st MDS Legendary? – Well, we will find out soon enough and I hope my friend Ex-Race Director, Patrick Bauer makes a cameo appearance. An MDS without him being there is still a strange thought, as in my mind he IS the MDS.
However, my thoughts are that the desert is the desert. Jebel Oftal and its rock face with ropes await. Will it be tough – of course it will. Will it be enjoyable – well I hope so as I’m going to be surrounded by some great people again this year, not only the people that I coach but the great group of runners from Walking With the Wounded, I’ve help prepare.
Meeting my wife in 2009 and working with Sir Ranulph in 2015 are proper stand-out years but then each year the race leaves a footprint in everyone’s heart – it has in mine sixteen times and no doubt it will again this year.
So if you are an MDS Fresher, as I was in 1999, don’t have nightmares about the race, just enjoy the whole MDS experience – there’s nothing quite like it and if you are going this year, I’ll see you out there in the sandpit.
1,181 Marathons - 276 Ultras - 16 MDS - 9 GWR - 1 Life
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