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You are > Home > Six-day Sahara Desert run
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Thursday, April 07, 2005
Six-day Sahara Desert run
FOR Dale Kennedy, Manager of the Tower Hotel Leisure Centre, it could be his ultimate test of endurance or his worst nightmare, or both!
The Marathon des Sables is one of the world’s most brutal foot racing events, a six-day, 150-mile run through the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco!
Participants are required to be totally self-sufficient during the Marathon. They must carry a lightweight backpack with all the clothing, food and supplies they need for the week. Marathon organizers supply the participants with a meagre nine-litre ration of water for each day. At night, participants sleep on the ground in communal Berber tents.
The actual course of the race remains a secret until the day before the Marathon begins. Typically, it takes place in the stunningly beautiful desert to the east or south of the town of Ouarzazate. This arid terrain offers an ankle-wrenching variety of landscapes, including rocky hills, palm groves, dried mud flats and sand dunes. Daytime temperatures have been known to climb to a scorching 125 degrees and sandstorms are common.
Each day of the Marathon is an adventure unto its own, as each of the six “stages” ranges from 20 to 80 kilometres (12 to 50 miles) in length. An extensive road book is given to the competitors before the race begins. Stage Four is considered the most gruelling, a double marathon segment which begins long before sunrise. The racing is tightly monitored, with all participants required to check in at numerous “control points” along the way.
The Marathon is littered with stories of survival. Take Mauro Prosperi, a police officer from Rome, who got lost in a sandstorm during the 1994 race. He wandered several hundred kilometres off course and survived for the next nine days on boiled urine and dead bats. Mauro lost over 30 pounds during his ordeal but he has returned to Morocco to race two more times. Surprisingly, only one person has died while participating in the Marathon.
Dale flies out to Morocco on Thursday 7th April where the competitors will spend two days acclimatising in the desert before the race starts on Sunday morning. South East Cancer Foundation spokesman Jonathan Oakes said “We are very grateful to Dale for offering to seek sponsorship of the run for the benefit of the Foundation.
We wish him the very best of luck and every success in his remarkable endeavour. We hope that people will keep up to date with his progress and support his effort by making a donation at the Tower Hotel”
Sponsorship Donations are being taken at the Leisure Centre Reception in the Tower Hotel.
Donations to the South East Cancer Foundation may also be made at the SECF Drop in Centre, 7 Sealy Close, Earls Court, off the Dunmore Road.
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