Greg Manciagli, James Pethigal and Greg Slyngstad
were the Seattle WA
area participants in
the Marathon des Sables in Morocco Apr 9-16.
Here is their story !
The 15th Marathon des Sables was an amazing and difficult adventure. The
race was held April 9-15 in Morocco and involved 6 stages over 7 days for a
total of about 144 miles through the Sahara desert. The literal translation
is, 'marathon of the sands.' Participants are responsible for carrying a
pack with everything you need for the seven days including bedding, clothing
and food. Water is provided at regular checkpoints. Greg Manciagli, James
Pethigal and I (Greg Slyngstad ) were the Seattle WA
area participants among 37 US runners and a
total field of 680. The race is put on by the French and most of the
participants are from Europe. The organizers engage about 400 support staff,
dozens of trucks and Land Rovers, several doctors, a helicopter and 6 camels
to follow the runners. As they did last year, Outdoor Life television was
filming the race for presentation later this year and
Quokka.com
offered
live coverage along with many other media organizations for the European
audience.
Just to get to the starting line, it took 3 plane rides, 2 taxi rides in
excess of 3 hours each (the buses that were suppose to pick us up never
showed), a couple of 4 hour layovers and a 45 minute ride in the back of an
army truck out to a camp in the middle of the Sahara desert near the tiny
village of Oued Amsailikh. After 36 hours of travel, we arrived at our
lovely camp in the desert at 2AM. Our homes for the week are open sided
berber tents, which are stitched together burlap bags held up with heavy
sticks and a couple of rugs for the floor. Eight people to a tent.
When morning arrives, we can finally see that we're in the middle of a long,
flat, barren valley of rock and sand with nothing but our camp and the
desert visible for miles. Saturday was spent going over logistics. The
officials verified we had required safety gear and adequate food and looked
at our EKGs to make sure our hearts could take it. There are 2000 calories
per day required and they weighed our food and packs. My pack weighs in at
8.1 Kg (18 lbs or so), at the lighter end relative to some others.
On Sunday we are awakened at 6:30AM by a team of local berbers tearing down
the tents. They literally lift the tent cover off with people still in them.
We started at 9AM on Sunday in moderate temperatures (in the 80s). The
first stage was pretty easy. I ran almost the entire way and felt pretty
good but exhausted at the end. This day was 17 miles and the terrain was
reasonable rock and hard pack with only a little sand and the temps didn't
get above 90. The scenery is spectacular and constantly changing. We arrived
into our new camp which has been relocated by a team of local berbers. The
wind was blowing and everything is covered with sand. Everyone seemed to get
dirty and smelly at about the same rate so no one seemed to notice. We had
enough water to brush our teeth and handi-wipes to wash hands and face but
that was it.
The second day was 20 miles and it was a bit harder since my legs were still
feeling the effects of the previous day. I ended up walking the last few
miles. I pulled into the next camp exhausted, legs cramping and hungry.
Knowing I had the two hardest days coming up, I was wondering what possesed
me to sign up for this thing. We have our first American casualty. A runner
drops out on day two with severe blisters.
The third day was "dune day." The wind had died and it was hot, at one point
110 degrees. We had about 11 miles to run before we entered the "erg or
Rhaoul" (erg is the berber name for sand dunes). We then had 12 of the
longest miles in my life. They gave us 3 liters of water to start this leg
but it was still not enough. Over 50 people gave up and fired their flares
requiring rescue by helicopter. The organizers could not get any other
vehicle into the dunes. Many of these people required medical attention from
severe dehydration. It took 4.5 hours to get thru the "erg" and I, along
with most everyone else had run out of water before reaching the end.
Fortunately, I didn't have far to go and reached water before any serious
dehydration set in. I trudged into camp on very sore, blistered feet, having
completed 23 miles and really wondering what it was going to be like to do
47 miles the next day. Lisa Smith from the US was the leading woman
starting the day but she is forced out by the officials due to an asthma
attack at the second checkpoint.
The start of the long day was into a sand storm at 9:30AM. Visibility was
down and the wind 20-30 miles per hour on our nose. As we started into this,
it was hard to imagine how we could manage 47 miles in this kind of wind and
sand. Fortunately, a couple of miles into the day, the wind let up. I had
started with my tent mates, Doug from LA, Dan from Chicago and Greg
Manciagli, my neighbor. Doug was tired from the very beginning and was
already slowing before we reached the first check point. Greg and I decided
to keep moving ahead. We later found out that before Doug was throwing up
after checkpoint 1 and before reaching checkpoint 2, he had become delirous
and collapsed. Dan had to flag down one of the race officials and they
called the helicopter. They gave Doug two liters of IV fluids out in the
field and then flew him back to camp where he took 4 more liter. Doug had
never fully recovered from the dune day and just couldn't get enough fluids
down so he had quickly dehydrated. We heard stories of Chloe, a world class
ultra-marathoner from Canada who moved into first after Lisa Smith was
forced out, requiring madical attention at check point 2 and being forced to
retire. Mary Gadams, the US team organizer, also drops out during the long
day. She has done the race many times before but this year she it doesn't
work out.
Greg and I ran and walked together that entire day. We were running very
little but walking briskly and not stopping to rest. By checkpoint 3, I'm
exhausted, my feet feel like hamburger and we still have 27 miles to go.
Shortly after dark, we entered a "casbah" which is a berber town center with
high adobe walls and alleys. The maze of alleys, the people holding candles
and lanterns cheering us in french, the high walls, and the exhaustion
combine to make for an amazingly surreal experience. It was like a scene out
of star wars. I'm sure there were aliens lurking down the dark alleys.
After leaving the casbah we soon found ourselves out in the middle of a dry
lake bed. It is 10:30PM, we've been going for 13 hours and we still have
about 12 miles to go. After all the preparation and effort to get here,
quitting isn't seriously considered but I try not to think about how much
further we have to go. I've taken way too many advil trying to kill the pain
in my feet and around midnight, the sand, dry air and blood thinning advil
combine to give me bloody nose. It won't stop so as we approach the final
checkpoint, I stuff a large wad of kleenex up my nose so that the people at
the checkpoint won't notice my bleeding and demand I get medical attention.
We got thru that checkpoint as quickly as possible and have only one more
leg to go. Three kms into that final leg there is one more set of large
dunes. We stumble through almost a mile of these dunes and finally crest a
dune that allows us to see the camp. It is about a mile away. It seems to
take forever to make that final mile but we finally pull into the camp
around 2:30AM. We've been going for almost 17 hours but the hard part is
over. We've done it!
We had a the next day to rest while people continued to stream in. Jame
arrives just after daybreak but is in serious shape. He makes it to his tent
but realizes things aren't right so he is helped to the aid station. It
turns out his sodium is dangerously low and he is airlifted to a local
hospital for treatment. Agonizingly, after completing the two hardest
stages, he is forced to retire. He says he'll be back. Some people are
taking up to 30 hours to finish this leg. This day is spent resting and
nursing our feet. I learned many new secrets to treating blisters. The
French just cut off all the loose skin leaving the raw new skin exposed.
That looks too painful so the technique that worked best for me was piercing
the blister with a needle and thread and then leaving a piece of thread in
the blister. This way the blister continues to drain, yet you don't have to
expose the raw skin.
The 5th stage is marathon length (26.2 miles). Despite the ugly blisters, I
realize my feet don't hurt any more to run and it will take less time, so I
manage to run the entire stage. With the marathon finished we have only 1
short leg left.
The final leg was through various villages with hundreds of locals lining
the path. The many children are anxious to shake our hand, or give us a high
five. Some of the kids run along beside us on fields covered in rock and
we're amazed to see they have no shoes, particularly in light of the pain in
our feet. The entire final leg and the site of the finish line is a great
relief. Greg Manciagli carries a large American flag for the last stage and
unfurls it as we approach the finish line. I am so glad it's over. I finish
in a combined total of 40 hours and 45 minutes, 243rd out of the 680
starters. Greg finishes 270th. We're both pleased to finish in the top half.
Almost 100 people have dropped out. First and second are Lahcen and Mohamed
Ahansal, two Moroccon brothers that have each one previously. The winning
time is an amazing 18 hours and 3 minutes. The best showing for an American
is Cathy Tibbets, taking third place among women.
There were times when I doubted that the race was worth the pain, but now
that it is over, it was a great experience that I would encourage others to
try. It is expensive and time consuming but it will leave you with many
enduring memories, both good and bad. You will meet a lot of great people
and get to know them very well over the week you're living together and
sharing the pain. Check out www.sandmarathon.com for information on next
years race.
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