São Paulo – Imagine a competition among roughly 1,500 participants, covering approximately 250 kilometres, over the course of seven days, through the sands of the Moroccan Sahara. Well, it does exist: it is the Marathon of the Sands, an event that was created 26 years ago by the French Patrick Bauer and has had 12,000 runners.
The idea came up when Bauer, who used to work as a photographer, decided to go looking for vast open landscapes, which led him to move to Africa for two years. During this period, he crossed the desert from north to south several times. One of the trips lasted 12 days, during which he walked alone for 350 kilometres.
“My adventure in the Sahara changed my life completely and made me want to share it by creating an event that would resemble my experience,” said the creator of the marathon in an email interview to ANBA.
Presently, the competition counts on a team of 450 people who work at its organization to ensure the good health and well-being of competitors and that all legs of the marathon are properly observed. The people who provide support at the competition include 50 doctors; the equipment includes an ambulance-aircraft, two helicopters and four incinerators for burning the residue generated during the race.
The marathon is divided into six legs that range from 35 to 82 kilometres each. Generally speaking, the runners wake up between 5:30 am and 6:00 am and only go to sleep at around 9:00. During the day, they cross the Sahara guided by markers placed every 200 metres or more, depending on the type of terrain.
There is a maximum time set for each leg of the race, depending on the distance to be run. “It may vary from ten hours, for a standard leg of the race, to 34 hours for an 82-kilometre leg, or 12 hours for a 42-kilometre one,” says Bauer. “For example, the best runners may complete an 82-kilometre leg in seven-and-a-half hours, but the last competitors may take 30 hours to complete the section,” he says.
Along the way, there are checkpoints every 13 kilometres, at which competitors must get their control card stamped and replenish their freshwater supply. The points also serve as rest stops and as medical stations if needed. Runners are also handed a book pointing out all the details of the route, supply points, distances etc. The time at which each competitor passes through the checkpoints is transmitted by satellite in order to determine the ranking of arrival.
In terms of food, each competitor is required to ingest a minimum of 2,000 calories daily. According to Bauer, the runners carry all of their food supplies during the seven days of the competition, in baggage weighing from 6.5 to a maximum of 15 kilograms.
The age of competitors ranges from 16 to 79. Men are the majority, but women also participate and account for up to 12% of runners in each edition. On average, however, participants are aged 35 to 40. According to Bauer, one fourth of competitors are French, but the marathon counts on runners from 42 countries, including Moroccans and other Arabs from the Middle East and North Africa. According to the marathon organizer, it occasionally includes competitors from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and other Latin American countries.
Regarding the main challenges in such an hard competition, Bauer points out: “The biggest enemy is the heat, as temperatures routinely reach 40 degrees Celsius in some years. The sandstorms can be violent and terrible, because the sand gets in everywhere.”
To those interested in running the marathon, whose next edition will take place in 2012, enrolment can be made individually or in group. “The advantage of enrolling as a team is that you can run under a sponsorship banner, which makes it easier to obtain the resources needed for the marathon,” explains Bauer.
According to him, many groups end up dedicating their participation to raising funds in order to fight diseases or help children in need. “The organization of the marathon raises the awareness of runners to this type of approach, and each year it invests in projects that benefit poor people, focusing on healthcare, education and sustainable development.”
For further information on the Marathon of the Sands, go to http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
