faceBy Robert Luckock (words: 1,026)
PHILIPSBURG--Endurance athlete Michael Bacon recently completed the 30th Sultan Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, three years after taking up the notorious challenge for the first time in 2012.
Dubbed by Discovery Channel as the "toughest foot race on earth," this year the construction engineer finished the six-day race in 407th place out of a field of 1,370 multi-national starters including elite ultra-marathon runners, and covered the 250K distance in 41 hours 8:41. Some 200-300 runners abandoned the race or were pulled out by the organisers.
In 2012 Michael finished 243rd out of 800 competitors despite suffering a knee issue. This time the knees held up, but inevitably blisters, sores, and ripped toe nails were his most trying injuries.
The race requires competitors to be self-sufficient, carrying their own food, sleeping gear, and compulsory items, in a back pack. Water was not unlimited, instead organisers rationed each competitor at the start and check points with enough water to get them through that day's stage and cooking that night. With water that precious, showering was not an option.
Before the end of each stage "berbers," the indigenous people of North Africa, set up the 8-man tents, a Sahara tent on poles open on three sides.
Distances varied from 32K to the longest stage of 92K which included a night portion. Most competitors enter the individual category but there were many teams running for charity. These attracted "a different type of lunatic" Michael wryly observed. But he added the British were the best at fund raising.
The terrain included running through an endless Martian landscape, trudging through sand dunes, clambering up rocky ridges, or traversing flat, burning plains where temperatures soared to 53 degrees centigrade, but luckily no sand storms. An iconic image of this race is the mass of competitors wearing sunhats with neck protection flaps or the "keffiyehs" to protect from sun and dust.
"The race is about survival and being bloody minded; the goal of the vast majority is just to finish it," Michael explains. "Almost everybody gets injured...you name it knees, hips, sprained ankles, blisters, toes, sores, dehydration, heat stroke, something happens to everyone. Just to finish is hard and you've got to make the cut-off times each day. I carried 2,600 calories of food per day which was not enough and when you are running you can be burning 5 to 7,000calories a day. I lost 10lbs in weight over the race.
"There's an art to filling the back pack as light as possible," he added, "It can't be too heavy but still have enough food and gels etc to get through the day. Every day you are getting more tired, you have to cook for yourself, and sleep on a rug in this tent. You average about 3-4 hours sleep per night. Mostly you are running with other people so you don't get isolated. But you can be running with someone for two hours and not talking because you're so wrapped up in your own world."
Competitors gathered in the city of Ouarazazate from where they took a six-hour bus journey to the desert camp and starting point for the race. Two days of strict medical and equipment checks followed. Each competitor was equipped with a GPS tracking device so organisers could locate him or her at any time during the race. The device included a distress button. Helicopters and 4 x4 vehicles could be dispatched at a moment's notice to rescue any competitor.
According to Michael the organisation was flawless, particularly the medical care by doctors who monitored the health of each runner as they passed through check points and treated them at the camp each night. The race was very well marked, every few hundred metres. Runners also had a compass and road book to guide them in addition to the briefing before each stage.
"It is an expensive race to enter and you need to be well prepared physically and mentally, and know what you are getting into," he noted. "Years ago 50 per cent of the field pulled out because they weren't trained properly. Now everybody knows about diet, gear and training. I trained for months, sticking to a diet and slogging up Pic Paradis, Sentry Hill, Anse Marcel, and Bellevue with a back pack for several hours a day. I also did Crossfit because you need to be strong."
He said he was inspired by the courage and fortitude of other competitors, some of whom sustained broken limbs.
"The ones that didn't finish the race, 99 per cent of them were pulled out by organisers. It's a great sense of loss for them because there are no losers. One guy in my tent fractured his leg halfway through the race but he still managed to finish. He was popping pain killers like M&Ms and his leg was all purple and swollen. Another girl had heart palpitations and was pulled out. Then there were these French firemen who were towing handicapped children behind them through the dunes in specially adapted wheelchairs.
"The children were allowed to experience the race, but only a short part of it. I was astounded when I saw this. As if the race is not hard enough without dragging something behind you. You think you are tough but those guys were unbelievable."
The euphoria of collecting the finisher's medal was a magic moment. Despite little fanfare in the way of celebrations after the race, Michael has one abiding memory of the last night.
"They flew in these musicians from the Paris Philharmonic and an opera singer and we were treated to this fantastic concert, in a desert setting under a beautiful star-filled sky. It was surreal, almost as good as that beer at the finish line!
Would he do the race again?
"Probably not; there are hundreds of adventure races out there. It may be mountain biking over the Andes next. But I have to say in the desert the camaraderie, the friends you make; it's very special. Believe it or not you do have fun too."
