Run The Marathon Des Sables
Still to do
Around 250 km across Saharan dunes and stony plains, carrying everything you need for the week on your back.
The adventure
The Marathon des Sables is a week of running through the desert of southern Morocco with a pack that holds your food, sleeping bag and kit. Each day brings a new stage across sand dunes, dry riverbeds, rocky jebels and salt flats, with daytime temperatures that can climb above 40°C, and each evening ends at a bivouac of open-sided Berber tents shared with the same small group of runners.
The legendary day is the long stage, which can be around 80 kilometres and stretches into the night, when runners follow glow sticks across the desert under an enormous sky full of stars. By the end of the week your feet are taped, your pack is lighter and your tentmates have become friends for life. Crossing the final line in the sand is a feeling very few races can match.
Why it’s epic
- First held in 1986, it is widely billed as the toughest footrace on Earth.
- Compulsory kit includes a venom pump, a distress flare and enough food for the whole week.
- Water is rationed and handed out at checkpoints, so you carry what you need between them.
- Runners from all over the world sleep side by side in the same desert camp each night.
What it is
A six-stage, self-supported race of around 250 km across the Sahara, first held in 1986. Runners carry their own food and kit for the week, sleep in shared tents and get a ration of water at each checkpoint.
How to do it
Register through the race’s official website or its UK agent well in advance. Entry costs several thousand pounds and you’ll need a medical certificate and ECG before the start.
Top tip
Train with a loaded pack and in the heat, and get sand gaiters fitted to your shoes.
Need to know
- Entry needs a medical certificate and a resting ECG, and places are often booked a year or more ahead.
- Your pack must weigh between 6.5 and 15 kg, so train with a loaded pack and in heat.
- Foot care is everything; sand gaiters and well-tested shoes prevent most race-ending blisters.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £5,000 or more per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- About 10 days including travel
- Best time to go
- April
- Fly into
- OZZ airport
Entry alone costs several thousand pounds, before specialist kit, freeze-dried food and travel to Morocco.
Make it happen
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Why it’s on my list
Not done yet. If you’ve done it and have tips, tell me about it.
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