26th Sultan Marathon Des Sables

Steve Cooper - SleepMonsters Australia / 29.03.2011

Split over 6 stages competitors must also be food self sufficient with water rations being supplied daily. Competitors must also carry sleeping gear and other mandatory items, severe penalties are applied for any infractions of rules down to elimination for some.

So you maybe thinking 40k a day, 6 days maybe i could get through that, but keep this in mind, the stages seem to lengthen to almost a double marathon on the 4th day and then you could be straight into a full marathon again then finally a half marathon and we haven’t mentioned the sand either. Some more stats, 6.5km of elastoplast, 6000 painkillers, 150 litres of disinfectant, 400 support staff, 100 ATVs, 52 medics and over 11000 competitors since 1986.
This is undeniably one of, if not the toughest footrace on earth, and one of our own has decided to take it on. Its certainly nothing new to our local AR folk with Damon Goerke and Fleur Grose both finishing well in 2008.

Canberra local Tim Calver flew out this evening bound for probably his toughest event to date, and he is running for a cause and good one at that “CanTeen” You can support them <a href="#"onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.desertultrarun.com/running_for_a_good_cause.html')"class="main">here</a>.