The Marathon des Sables (MdS) is a 6 day 150 mile endurance race across the Sahara Desert. It is held in April each year in the Saharan provinces of south Morocco, generally in the vicinity of Ouarzazate. The exact location is kept secret until a day before the event begins. The route covers an extremely diverse terrain of sand, stones, small mountains of approximately 1,000m, dried lakes, palm groves, dried river beds and dunes. Competitors have to be self sufficient and carry all of their provisions for the race, with water being distributed daily.
The six separate stages range from 20km to 80km and include an actual marathon as one of the stages. Sand makes up 25%-50% of the route. A previous route over the six days:
- Day 1 – 29km (18 miles)
- Day 2 – 35km (22 miles)
- Day 3 – 38km (24 miles) (Dune Stage)
- Day 4 – 77km (48 miles) (Overnight Stage)
- Day 5 – Rest day (although you may still be running the 77km overnight stage)
- Day 6 – 42km (26.2 miles) (Marathon Day)
- Day 7 – 18km (11 miles)
The amount of kit and food required to complete this event came as somewhat of a surprise, particularly as I will be carrying it all on my back! I have created seperate pages for food and kit as I thought the detail and research that is going to be involved in selecting the right equipment and nutrition warrants a dedicated space.
Official Event Webiste
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