How to plan for and cover the daily distance on the Marathon des Sables
For context to give you an idea of the race distances: I came 461st out of 752 finishers (783 started, meaning that 31 DNF – giving a 96% finish rate) with a total elapsed time of 42 hours, 53 minutes, and 42 seconds.
To aid your navigation, water consumption, and generally planning for the distance, you’re given a comprehensive manual on the pre-race admin day - this is invaluable to your planning.
From this, you can commit the general route to memory so that you know roughly how long it is between each checkpoint (for managing your water consumption and breaks).
I used a combination of a Garmin Fenix watch to track the distance, the travel speed (i.e., 3 kilometres per hour on very sandy terrain), and the book to build an estimate of how long it would be between the checkpoints so we could ensure water wasn’t consumed too quickly, but that you’d also not arrive at the next one carrying water unnecessarily (notably, there were always hundreds of full or semi-full bottles of water at each CP when we tackled it in 2019 – however this clearly may not be the case in hotter years).
Get this and 8000 words of our first-hand knowledge in our digital guidebook!
Preparing for the Marathon des Sables (aka ‘the toughest footrace in the world’), can be a hugely time-consuming affair that can border on having another full-time job, especially for busy people who want to experience the beauty of the desert, but have to be efficient with their time and not wondering how to train or what kit they need.
This digital download is over 8000 words of hard-won knowledge, advice, guidance, ideas across 17 pages, covering the following subjects:
- How to choose the right shoes for the Marathon des Sables
- Sleeping bags options
- Food selection
- Essential clothing for the Marathon des Sables
- Nutritional demands / calorie planning for the race
- Different backpack options
- The application process.
- How to meet the cut-off times
- The race format.
- Understanding the mandatory gear list.
- Tent etiquette.
- Weight reduction ideas for your kit.
- Taking care of yourself and blister management.
- Race strategy for completion.
- The pre-race medical checks
- Where to get your footwear tailored for gaiters.
- Planning for charity fundraising.
- Ideas to aid physical preparation.
- How to condition yourself for the demands of the desert
- How to enter from overseas
- How to generate social media interest for funding it.
By way of an example, this is the daily distance and broken down between the checkpoints.
Day 1
Total distance: 32.2km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 1: 11.4km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 2: 21.1km
Maximum time to complete: 10 hours
Day 2
Total distance: 32.5km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 1: 13km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 2: 26km
Maximum time to complete: 11 hours
Day 3
Total distance: 37.1km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 1: 10.7km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 2: 22.7km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 3: 31.7km
Maximum time to complete: 11 hours
Days 4 and 5
Total distance: 76.3km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 1: 12.7km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 2: 25.6km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 3: 37.7km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 4: 50.7km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 5: 61km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 6: 71.1km
Maximum time to complete: 31 hours
Day 6
Total distance: 42.2km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 1: 12.4km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 2: 23.3km
Distance from start line to checkpoint 3: 32.5km
Maximum time to complete: 12 hours
Day 7 (charity day)
Total distance: 6.1km
The wear and tear the desert takes on your body - blister management is a big part of the MdS!
