Written by Stephen Evans
Why am I finally writing this diary now, more than three years after the race, basically because three friends and I have entered the 2010 MDS. A sort of 5 year anniversary to celebrate the pain and suffering of last time. I’ve been meaning to write a race report from the diary I kept, but work and a normal family life and training for the other four ultras I have entered seem to have interfered and I always seem to find something better to do, but at last here is the report of my first ever ultra marathon. It is written from diary notes made during the event, so is purely a personal recollection, it may or may not bear any relation to the official report and records of the race, but this is how it looked from way down the field.
7 April 2005: Day 1 in Morocco
I had stayed the night in a hotel in Gatwick, shared a room with Howard Cook. I’d met him on the forum, and despite my mother’s warnings about the type of man you meet on the internet I’d decided to share a hotel room with him. We met up with Steve Reeves, another internet acquaintance, for breakfast then gone and checked in together. Check in for the flight was a bit of a shock, I wasn’t expecting a special charter, but I suppose that explains the limited numbers of British entries- one plane load! Then spent a few hours hanging around in the departure lounge spotting other competitors- it wasn’t too difficult the rucksacks sort of gave it away. We met a chap called Mark (from Birkenhead) and one called Aidan (from Jersey). The flight was eventful to say the least, we must have had the work experience boy landing, it didn’t seem as if he’d done it before, revving and slowing then a very bouncy landing, but we all walked away so by definition a good landing. There was a welcome party of schoolkids on the tarmac along with a band, and a welcome drink of dubious looking origin. The queue at immigration took forever, but at last made it through and onto a bus to the hotel, The Royal Berber. Cookie hadn’t disgraced himself the previous night so shared with him again, Steve R shared with Aidan. The first disaster of the race occurred tonight- greenheat, the eco friendly fuel helpfully supplied by Best of Morocco. The wrong amount turned up and it was a dodgy batch to say the least most of the tins were badly corroded. Not enough to go round so ended up with two rather than three tins, even they were corroded but with a bit of duct tape managed to stop them leaking. Not a good start but cheered up no end by the card that my sons had made and sneaked into my bag. Had a sort out of kit and compared mine to everyone else’s. A huge variety some high tech some decidedly low tech, wondered which was going to be the most effective. I guess there is only one real test- who was going to finish and who wasn’t. The same could be said for the other competitors, some looked superhumanly fit, others looked like they’d struggle getting down the pub. We went to the bar but I didn’t stay long as there was an early start planned tomorrow to get out to the start.
8 April 2005. Road trip Ouarzazate to Taguerroumt.
A lunatic bus driver tried to kill us all today, he must have been related to the pilot of the plane. We survived the road trip and were expecting to be loaded onto trucks for the last few kms to the first bivouac but the bus drivers thought they could make it so set off down a desert track, four of them made it the fifth had a bit of an incident with a rock and leaked oil for the last few hundred metres. Arrived in the camp, found a tent, well a scabby old bit of tarpaulin held up by branches. Number 91 was going to be our home for the next few days. In the tent were Jay, Simon, Cookie, Reeves, Phil, Aidan and me. Somehow we hadn’t managed to lure any girls into the tent. The desert welcomed us with a brief sandstorm, just to fill our bags with sand before we’d even unpacked. The tent practically blew down, but on a brighter note we were fed and given our first 3 litre ration of water. Other competitors started turning up. Some of the keener ones were even running up nearby sand dunes. It was hard to believe that after 18 months of training I was finally in the desert waiting for the start of the race.
9 April 2005 Bivouac 1. Control day
I managed to sleep okay the thermarest and the rugs were quite comfy and my sleeping bag (PHD minimus) kept me nice and snug. It was bloody freezing in the early hours when I got up for a pee. Woke up early, at least they weren’t taking the tents down around us this morning. We were given a time to go to the registration tent, but the times didn’t seem to mean much as most people waited until the queue died down then drifted over, handed in their bags full of stuff they weren’t going to need for the race, and went through the other formalities. Most of it was in French but managed to get by- no-one seemed really interested in my ECG, the weight of my bag or the number of calories I had despite how serious they make it sound in all the documentation. We were given a water ration card and medical card, parachute flare and salt tablets. Then we went for lunch, again provided by the race organisers. After lunch I went for a bit of a stroll around the camp, luckily I took some water with me as the temperature got up to 35C in the shade, and I was soon dripping with sweat. What was the race itself going to be like! Went up the ridge overlooking the camp and finally realised that the competitors’tents looked like a 20 from above. After exerting myself went back to the tent to get some shade and move some particularly pointy rocks from under the rugs of the tent. The sandstorm of the previoius night was just a warm up tonight we had a three and a half hour sandstorm with visibility of about 100m and a significant drop in temperature. The tent almost blew down again- this was going to be a recurring theme of the week. Tent 88 blew down completely, the occupants looked most unhappy. In an attempt to improve the mood the French resorted to music, the Buena Vista club at high volume, it worked as loads of people started dancing. PB regaled us with a long talk in French with a two word English translation (another theme for the week) we managed to work out that there were 777 competitors from 36 countries and 112 were women the rest of it was lost in the desert wind. The latrine tents blew away- probably for the best as I wasn’t able to go within fifty yards of them anyway the smell was vile. Competitors sensibilities were slowly disappearing the bushes that we were crapping behind were slowly getting smaller and closer to the campsite, especially at night.
10 April 2005 Race Day 1 (IRHS to KHERMOU - 29 km)
This is it the start! I woke at 0430 cold despite being in sleeping bag, lay there for a while quietly contemplating what lay ahead and hoping that I can at least complete one day before dropping out. Everyone else in the tent was awake by 0500 and slowly we emerged to sort out rucksacks, sleeping bags and breakfast. By 0600 the tent monitors were busy dismantling tents, if you weren’t awake or out of your bag they just took them down around you. Collected water ration, quite organised not much of a queue then sat down and wrote in my diary while trying to get a reasonable amount of water down before the start. Arrived at the start line at about 0830, shepherded into the shape of a 20 for some photos then the PB speech. Eventually got started at 0930, this was it finally. I managed to run slowly for the first three kms then hit a rocky ridge which we needed to scramble up after that I walked to CP1 with Simon from the tent. Even though I’d been told that it wasn’t all sandy the terrain surprised me- rocky paths more like goat tracks, dunes and scrambling up loose rocks. Slowly made my way towards the finish of day one. With typical MDS psychology the camp was visible from about 4.5km out and just seemed to take ages to get to. Finally arrived at the camp as was in a bit of a state, a stonking headache and felt sick. Everyone else in the tent okay. I lay down sipped water from my camel back and took some paracetamol after an hour or so I felt much better and was able to eat some food. The beef and potato hotpot actually tasted really good. I did think though that if I felt that bad after Day 1 , what was I going to be like later in the week. Sorted my feet out as I had two small blisters then got an early night as I was absolutely knackered.
11 April 2005 Race Day 2 (KHERMOU to JEBEL EL OFTAL - 37.5)
I had a good night sleep, it wasn’t so cold and as I was dehydrated the previous evening despite the amount of water I’d drunk the night before I hadn’t got up to have a pee. The road book said hilly with only 1 km of dunes right at the end. Ready to roll at 0830, yet another PB speech dubiously translated into English then of we went.
This is a direct quote from my diary that was written at the end of the stage
“What a f*****g outrageous day- rock climbing, even a roped section”I think that just about summed it up. No headache today, obviously better hydration strategy- i.e. drinking more and taking as many salt tablets as I was offered by the marshals. God knows what was actually in them but I took them and swallowed them with the half strength GO-electrolyte I was using. I walked with Simon over the rolling ridges to just before check point two, then picked up the pace a bit and caught up with Reevesy and Aidan on the last bit in the dunes. Usual camp routine water, drop kit, heat water, eat food, sort feet then sleep. The Greenheat was a complete and utter disaster so cooked on a fire. Tent an absolute disaster as it kept falling down throughout the night, in the end we stopped trying to put it back up and just slept with it collapsed over us. Had some emails from home which cheered me up although the mood in the tent was really good. Simon came in after 10 hours and needed to go to the medical tent as he was so dehydrated, he didn’t get an IV and seemed to pick up as the evening progressed. A surprise for us all –a string quartet. Surreal. Top temperature today 44C. 12 abandons. 17 in after time but allowed to continue.
12 April 2005 Race Day 3 (JEBEL EL OFTAL to TALMAIDERT –41 km)
Everyone in the tent achy and stiff this morning, the effects of the distance the terrain and the heat starting to take its toll. None of us had taken part in an ultra before, some of us had never competed in a marathon. A difficult day today it took me about 9 hours but no really big problems, legs and shoulders stiff but no new blisters. Huge dunes after checkpoint 2, temperature in the troughs in the sun allegedly 50C. Bad news though Simon collapsed in the dunes and needed 4 litres of IV fluid, he is therefore out of the race. He’ll sleep in the tent but eat with the marshals. Walked with two other racers for part of the route one of whom spent most of the time throwing up but he managed to finish the stage and got to the start line the following morning without to much of a problem. Simon fairly philosophical about having to drop out, and was already talking about coming back to complete it another year. Roast lamb for tea tonight- spot on. Had my first hallucination today, I was convinced that I saw an elephant. Even though I know that elephants don’t live in the desert. It was a bush- I didn’t think that they grew in the desert either, but it was definitely a bush!
13 April 2005 Race Day 4 (TALMAIDERT to OUED AHSSIA –76 km) and
14 April 2005 Race Day 5 (TALMAIDERT to OUED AHSSIA –76 km)
Big day today, the long stage. This will be the longest I’ve ever gone. Previous longest distance in one go was the round Guernsey walk- 40 miles. Some cloud cover this morning, so not quite as cold as the other mornings. And as a bonus I got to put on a pair of clean socks. Hooray! I found a few more small blisters this morning. They seem to appear overnight once my feet have dried out. Most people around the camp have developed a shuffle that looks like something from a zombie film. Hoping to get round the long stage in less than 24 hours so I can have a decent rest tomorrow. I’ll try and keep going without a major stop at any of the checkpoints. 9 am start, the first section was absolutely mind blowing a flat dried up lake bed that just seemed to go on and on forever. I was wondering how I’d cope with 76km but as soon as I got to a bit of a hill it seemed to get much better even though it was a long stony ridge which was tricky to walk on. I tagged along with a couple of guys from Cardiff who were walking at about the same pace as me. We were at checkpoint two when the leaders (who had started 3 hours behind us ) started coming through. They seemed to be flying over the sand. On the way between CP3 and CP4 a bad sandstorm with visibility down to about 5m, I managed to walk to the next marker on a bearing then sat down and waited for it to clear. Visibility slowly improved so three of us decided to push on, it was amazing to see how quickly some competitors had gone off route, but they soon corrected themselves as the visibility improved. It started to get dark as I arrived at CP4, luckily as I arrived I bumped into Reevesy and Aidan, they had a fire going and were eating so I took the opportunity to heat some water and decided to eat with them. Had a break there for about 90 minutes then the three of us pushed on to checkpoint five. We were following the laser, when Aidan decided he needed to have a crap. Even though it was pitch black he decided to squat behind a bush, however he forgot about his glow stick which was shining like a beacon to everyone behind him, and about a dozen racers walked within about 6 inches of him. He then tried to light up the whole desert by setting fire to his toilet role. Apart from that we reached CP uneventfully. We all stopped briefly, Reevesy and Aidan wanted a sleep for a couple of hours but I was desperate to keep going to make the most of the cool of the night. I carried on and as I got closer to the camp just seemed to get faster and faster, relatively speaking. I was starting to think that I might just finish the whole thing. I finally got in about 0400. Crashed out and slept for a couple of hours then woke up at about 0630and started to inspect the damage, my feet were trashed. A huge blister on my left heel, and on four of my toes, and two on my right foot. The ones on my toes were awkward to reach so ventured to Doc Trotters. They sorted them out relatively quickly and I hobbled back to the tent. Reevesy and Aidan turned up at about 1000, they’d overslept then took a while to get going but arrived in a relatively good state. Some poor buggers were out for more than 30 hours completing the long stage.
The rest day was spent lying in the tent, as there was a sandstorm that continued for most of the day. The whole tent did venture out for a tent photo- just us and our race numbers. I was delighted to have finished in under 24 hours even if my feet were in a bit of a state.
15 April 2005 Race Day 6 (OUED AHSSIA to IRAOUN –42.2 km)
Marathon day. The good news is that whatever my time is it’ll be a personal best as it’s my first marathon ever, the bad news is my feet aren’t in a particularly good state and my legs are stiff but at least there are only two stages left. A long old day today 9hrs 38 for a marathon, I think my granny could have done better but at least it’s over with now. The oued into CP3 seemed never ending. Had to go to Doc Trotters to get supplies to sort out my feet in the morning. An eventful day I almost got run over by a eurosport jeep, he missed me by about a foot- but vengeance was mine he got bogged down in soft sand about a hundred metres further on and all his VIP’s had to get out and push. I didn’t laugh much as I went past, honest. More worrying was the chap out cold on the track, he was being sorted out by the medics and as far as I could work out he had to drop out but was otherwise okay. Usual routine once I got to the tent. I was the last one in, Reevesy had a stormer. More entertainment tonight Arab cameliers ( I think that’s what you call a soldier on camelback!) and surprise surprise sandstorms and high winds all night so the whole tent was awake most of the night trying to stop it blowing away. Btu there’s only 20km to go so the mood generally quite good. As well as my blisters I have developed a numb patch on the side of my thigh- hopefully it’ll go once I stop walking (no chance of running I am absolutely exhausted). I just want to get it done now.
16 April 2005 Race Day 7 ( IRAOUN to TAZZARINE –20 km)
Party atmosphere today barring a stupid accident I should finish. I’ve thrown all the unnecessary kit out of my ruck sack- a surprising amount, and as all my food has gone the bag feels surprisingly light. I attached a huge guersney flag to a walking pole and attached it to my rucksack so it could trail in my slipstream- it hung limply the whole way. Long stretches of hard sand so quite a good surface, which turned to track and then tarmac as we got closer to Tazzarine. I did manage to run the last 6 kms, and managed to get in under 3hours, which had been my target- all the tent 91 boys were there cheering at the finish line, along with the groups of curious locals. Got my medal, but I think I missed out on a kiss from PB- I can’t remember it anyway. I couldn’t belive I’d actually finished, quite emotional. We got allocated to a bus for the return journey dicing with death all the way. The talk on the way back was about what was next. I was contemplating a beer, bath, bed and food not necessarily in that order. Got back to the hotel picked up my bag and made the phone calls home to tell everyone that I had finished and was just about in one piece.
General comments
Once I arrived home post race blues set in, I had been incredibly focussed on the MDS for 18 months and all of a sudden it was gone. I had made some good friends who suddenly weren’t there. I didn’t feel like exercising at all for about two or three months. But all of a sudden that changed when Cookie and Reevesy came up with the idea of entering the Yukon Arctic Ultra, but that’s another story.
I have to say thank you to my wife for supporting me, it can’t have been easy with me disappearing off on training runs especially as they got longer as my training progressed.
I would also like to say thanks for your help and support to Denise and Tracey, who were going at about my pace for the whole of the race. (denise was responsible for the YAU entry)
What did I learn:
I took to much food and kit, I will be even more ruthless next time.
Blisters stop hurting after about half an hour if you keep walking and get into a decent rhythm.
I could put up with a lot more pain and suffering than ever thought possible.
A system is invaluable- my food and snacks for every day were in freezer bags so I just had to pull out the bag with the stage number on it and didn’t have to think- it might seem obsessive but it’s one less thing to think about.
A very small bush can provide what seems like 100% privacy when you need a crap in the desert.
Mental toughness plays a huge part in the race.
It’s addictive- since the MDS I have competed in the YAU, the 6633 and the British Ultra and managed to finish. I also attempted the Ridgeway race but dropped out after 70 miles
Steve Evans
Number 606 20th MDS