Few races need as much specialist kit as the Marathon des Sables. Get it wrong and desert running becomes pretty ouchy. Damian Hall shares his tips
The Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands; MdS) is a six-day multi-stage race of roughly 250K (it varies each year) through Morocco’s Sahara Desert. Runners are largely self-supported (other than water and a large shared shelter) and as deserts aren’t always conducive to human survival there’s a fairly extensive mandatory kit list.
FEET
The number one problem runners have at MdS is with their feet. No race trashes your pinkies like this one and blisters can turn the Long Day (around 50 miles) especially, into a march through hell. I only had two small blisters during MdS, the least in our tent.
Above all else, select a shoe that’s comfortable, most likely one you’ve worn regularly before. I went with the Inov-8 Terraclaws, which were excellent (though the Inov-8 Trailtalons would have given a bit more cushioning for the ‘Lego fields’ – hard flats actions with lots of little stones).
This story is from the December 2017 edition of Outdoor Fitness.
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This story is from the December 2017 edition of Outdoor Fitness.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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