Marathon des Sables - a marathon fundraiser

By James Shelton

Prologue: Summer 2004 – April 2005

It was on army camp with the Officer Training corps when three of my friends and I decided to compete in the Marathon Des Sables. We had been discussing adventurous ideas for a while and a particularly robust night in the mess sealed the deal as we all agreed to stop talking about it and pay our deposits as soon as possible. This was nothing short of youthful ignorance but underneath it all I believed that the four of us would finish the race, even at that early stage. The stage is a 150 mile self sufficient run completed over seven days in the Sahara desert. And so our team of four students was to compete as the Northumbria Universities Officer Training Corps Team.

Apart from the research my main challenge was raising money and this got underway almost immediately, I contacted local businesses, schools, friends, family, newspapers and endless charities. My chosen charity is the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and people always proved to be more generous when I approached them.

My training stepped up from my normal running routine of anything up to seven miles four times a week to running for 2 hours three times a week (roughly 15 miles). On the days between I was doing shorter runs, sprints, hill climbs and swimming.

7 April: Fly to Quazarzate (Morocco)
We flew out in the morning on a chartered plane from Gatwick airport. We had heard that whoever you sit next to on the plane will probably end up sharing an eight man tent with you during the week. This was very true and we made friends with a thirty year old Australian called Des and a 21-year-old male model working in Milan called Duncan. We later met Tom and Tarquin, two middle-aged business men possibly combating our youthful confidence and ignorance with their midlife crisis. Altogether our tent was a good mix of experience, youth, nationality and humour.

8 April: Bus journey to the Desert and the start of the race
We woke with the same nervous apprehensive feeling that we had had for the last six weeks. We packed all our kit and got onto coaches ready to go. By now we had surveyed the group and realised that there were very few people as young as us with the average age of 35. Some were even over 60. It appeared that this race was about experience, maturity preparation and determination; I was still backing on my youthful confidence and ignorance – naivety!

The bus journey took about 5.5 hours and we spent most of it drinking water and looking at the scenery. We had formed little groups and there was certain caginess between competitors. I think this was nerves rather that genuine steely competitors.

10 April: Race starts
Distance: 19km / 18.1 miles
Time: 3hrs 39 minutes
Positions: 160th

At 5:30am the local nomadic tribe, the Berbers came round and dismantled your tents ready to take them to the next bivouac (camp) whether you are in it or not! Eventually we set off on the run we had been planning since the summer before. I won’t try and describe the scenery as hopefully the photos will give you some idea of it.

11 April: Stage 2
Distance: 37.5km / 23.5 miles
Time: 5hrs 36minutes
Positions: 143

This was many people's worst nightmare - experienced runners suggested it was one of the hardest days the organisers ever set out. It consisted of many long flat valleys to cross and also some high ridgelines. The final section was a very long flat valley which as hot and you could see a trail of people disappearing into the distance with no sight of the red flags (check points) which you were looking for.

12 April: Stage 3 – HOT
Distance: 41km / 25.6 miles
Time: 5hrs 35 minutes
Positions: 115th

If there was to be a day you could call dune day this was it. The dunes were long but also the biggest by far as they were up to 30 metres high. I enjoyed them because they are ever changing and interesting - your speed changes as you run or almost ski down them and then have to trudge up the next one. But after the dunes this day turned into one of the hardest for me as the interesting running changed to a very long flat riverbed run. The valley walls kept the heat trapped and the life-saving cool breeze dropped away. Thus it was the hottest day and the most uncomfortable for me!

13 April: Stage 4 – The Long Stage
Distance: 76 km / 47.5 miles
Time: 12 hrs 27 minutes
Position: 154th

After the hard day before I was daunted by the task of running nearly 50 miles in the heat. But as you were given two days to compete it I wanted to finish in one so that I had a day's rest. Apart from the daunting distance and heat I was quite excited, running 50 miles was a bit of a novelty as I had never run a full marathon. Many of the runners had done a 50 miler before and were not excited at all, they knew exactly what was ahead; my youthful ignorance again came to the rescue.

15 April: Stage 5 - An Olympic Marathon
Distance: 42.2km / 26.4 miles
Time: 5 hrs 33 minutes
Position: 152nd

The mood in camp on this morning was in most cases defiant. The idea being that a full marathon was nothing new since everyone present had just completed a 50 mile run on the back of three near marathons. It wasn’t going to be easy but we knew it was possible and after the marathon all that followed was a half marathon, a mere sprint!

16 April: Stage 6 – the Final Half Marathon
Distance: 20 km / 12.5 miles
Time: 2hrs 3 mins
Position: 180th

Everyone was in good spirits as the tents came down for the last time. We made our way to the start line knowing that we had completed the Marathon des Sables, with only 13 miles to go nothing could stop any of us reaching the finish line.

Finish
Distance: 247 Km / 154 miles
Time: 34hrs 55 minutes
Positions 129th out of 777 (12th Brit out of 224)

Money raised - £3,300

Thank you
I must take this opportunity to thank all my sponsors; Blake House Trent College, H. Dickson Optometrists, Furniture Factors, Be-Well, Atkinson Smith and the South Yorkshire Community Foundation. This event has a large entrance fee and without my sponsors I would not have been able to compete and raise a further £3300 for charity.