Urban Ultra's Unbelievable Ultimate Ultramarathon: Mount Sana 60

It’s 38C in Ras Al Khaimah as I am plodding along behind my buddy Alex going up a boulder field in the mountains. I have dry heaves and can’t see any shade to find a place to vomit.

- David O’Hara

For the past nine hours, Alex and I have been running, walking, climbing, trekking over 46km – and the wheels have come off. Alex guides me to a rock ledge to sit for a few minutes, but we cannot stay long – we are already beyond the next cutoff and know the only way out of the canyon is to climb the rocks up the next wadi. It’s an incredible struggle, which upon reflection afterwards makes Mount Sana 60 such a thrilling experience.

“A Bit Technical” This situation at the Mount Sana 60 is the result of two bad decisions I made: switching from water to a sugary electrolyte drink and consuming gels instead of real food like potatoes, dates and nuts. Experimenting during ultras is an exciting endeavour which sometimes enhances physical challenges, and Urban Ultra’s latest (and greatest!) challenge for ultramarathons in the Middle East is the Mount Sana 60. Mount Sana 60 is special with three sections spread out over 60km that are “a bit technical” and somewhat hilly. We often speak in code, so allow me to enlighten you. “A bit technical” means “unbelievably difficult terrain that is barely walkable much less runnable and usually requires the use of hands to climb up and down boulders.” Hopefully you get a sense of technical terrain in some of the photos, but bear in mind two details: each technical section with dodgy rocks and hills covers over 3km, and the really nasty sections are too iffy to photograph.

The Mount Sana 60