Extreme Marathons- 23rd Marathon Des Sables

Teamhar

Hi all, heres a link to the the 23rd Marathon Des Sables thats being run in Morocco this week. As I'm sure you all know, it's a marathon a day for a week with a double marathon overnight. As they compete, they have to carry their entire food ration for a week on their back, their sleeping mats, daily water ration and poison kit. Today was Stage 2. The age range this year is 18 to the oldest at 71. Most competitors fall somewhere between 30 and 50.

http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

There are quite a few Irish competitors this year and I know they would love to get some encouraging emails, which can be emailed to them directly from the site. Any email, even from total strangers believe it or not, really keeps them going! My Dad has run it twice and would have a third time but was just diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at Christmas and unfortunately had to bail out. His younger brother and brother's nephew are running however and had planned to accompany my Dad, but are now on their own! Thankfully my Dad is responding well to medication and is back running, but his marathon days are over. He's getting into swimming now! For the record, my uncle's race number is 540 and he's Canadian.

If you can spare a minute and a kind word or two, have a look at the website and think about challenging yourself one of these days!

Tara

T runner

Heres also an Account of this race from a few years ago by an amazing extreme running couple Graham and Jane Porter.