Research — Marathon des Sables
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The gear taking some of the most daring athletes through one of Earth’s most intense landscapes.
9.2 million square kilometres of sand lay before you. Dunes extend in all directions, nothing interrupting the expanse. Dry lakes and sand seas are an echo of a less desolate past, in which a green desert existed — a prehistoric oasis that allowed our ape-like ancestors’ safe passage out of Africa, letting them loose upon the wider world. Today, these geographic features serve only as a reminder that the present barren landscape is a stark contrast to the forests and grasslands that were here tens of thousands of years ago. Some areas experience as little as 1mm of rain a year, and it is this lack of precipitation that physically and ecologically shapes the desert. The extreme nature of the environment goes beyond the absence of water. Temperatures here are the hottest on Earth, reaching scorching highs of 47°C in the air and 83°C on the sand itself. At night, however, the temperature can dip below freezing. There is little respite from the elements for those that choose to brave the sands. The desert is colossal, sprawling across ten countries, carving the African continent in two. You find yourself in the Sahara.
The environment and landscape conjure images of Arrakis, the desert planet of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’. The lack of human presence means it does not take a leap of the imagination to interpret the Sahara as alien. In many ways, especially for those living in temperate regions, it is. The desert is unlike anywhere on Earth. It distinguishes itself from other hot deserts by combining its imposing size with the most extreme of conditions. As with Arrakis, at first glance, the Sahara seems devoid of life, yet a deeper look reveals an ecosystem of highly adapted organisms that call the desert home. All of these organisms, both plant and animal, have evolved to survive in an environment where water sources are few and far between. Root systems search for groundwater as deep as 28 metres under the surface; conventional leaves are lost to preserve water; and some plants lie dormant as seeds for decades at a time, only becoming active during exceptionally wet years. Animals are no different. Many are nocturnal, choosing to avoid the unrelenting sun during the day. Those that do brave the daylight hours are physically adapted to preserve as much water as possible. On the rare occasion that there is surface water, the desert attracts life from all over, humans no exception. Historical trade routes can be traced from oasis to oasis, veins of human activity crisscrossing the expanse of the desert.
Despite the historic human presence in the area, parts of the Sahara remained undocumented into the 20th century. In 1924, a landmark expedition led by Ahmed Hassanein Bey recorded much of the unknown area left unexplored. It took the group six months to travel over 2200 miles on camel and foot through the desert. The group would travel for days without any indication of human presence and endured six-day long sandstorms in which stopping meant being drowned by sand. Sometimes they drank as little as two glasses of water a day — one in the morning before beginning the day’s travel and one in the evening after setting up camp, at times travelling throughout the night to keep out of the sun’s heat. The expedition recorded the location of new oases, rediscovered the rock carvings of Oweinat and provided some of the first photographs of the Sahara, which along with Hassanein’s description of the trip, were published in Natural Geographic in 1924.
Sixty years later, in 1984, Patrick Bauer would begin a very different kind of expedition. Over the course of 12 days, with no companions (camel or human) and carrying all the water and food he would need in a 35kg rucksack, Bauer walked 350km across the Sahara. During his journey, he did not encounter a single oasis, village, or watering place.
Bauer’s unimaginable journey would lead to the creation of the Marathon des Sables — an endurance race that pushes the human desire to explore the natural world to its limits. Described as “the toughest foot race on Earth”, the race first took place in 1986, as Bauer’s way of recreating his own experience for others. Until COVID-19 led to the postponement of 2020’s Marathon des Sables, the event had taken place every year since its inception, challenging as many as 1000 competitors to cross 250km of the Sahara in only six days. As Bauer did in ’84, competitors must carry all of their own gear (other than water) during the course of the race.
Like the sands of the desert, the route itself shifts over time, morphing year to year, tracing a serpentine path through the Moroccan Sahara. The competition is split into five stages. Each day participants run a marathon through one of the most extreme environments on the planet, apart from the fourth day, known as “the big scary”, on which competitors must run a double marathon. The fifth day is a rest day, in preparation for the final marathon on the sixth. Six Saharan marathons. Six days. The race tests the limit of human endurance, but racers return year upon year to experience what the desert has to offer. Some truly conquer it: Lahcen and Mohamad Ahansal, two Moroccan brothers born to a nomadic family near Zagora in the Sahara Desert, have won the Marathon Des Sables fifteen times between them. In recent times, fellow Moroccan Rachid El Morabity has been the King of the Desert, winning first in 2011 and then six times back-to-back from 2014 to 2019. The fact that Saharan natives have dominated the race speaks volumes of the task at hand. To truly master the Marathon des Sables requires a lifetime of training.
For any that enter the race, equipment must be carefully considered. Those that undertake the marathon today carry much less weight than Bauer did on his original journey. Previous participants recommend that bags should not weigh more than 8.5kg, meaning pack weight must be considered at all times. There is little room for more than the bare essentials. Everything that a runner takes with them must be there for a purpose.
In terms of clothing, one cannot do much to combat the intense heat. In the Sahara sun, technical fabrics can do little to help cool you down but, in recent years, runners have been turning to X-BIONIC, a Swiss company creating high-tech running gear with inbuilt cooling systems. Patented material technology cools the runner down, with names like the 3D Bionic Sphere System and the X-BIONIC TWYCE Cool Zone; the features sound like they’d be as much at home on a mission to Arrakis as they would in the Sahara. According to runners, it works, too, making the heat that little bit more bearable. When kit is this limited, any small benefit gained can make all the difference.
X-BIONIC are at the forefront of cooling systems, and few others are pioneering in the way they are. This means that, for many, focus turns away from clothing and instead toward what are usually called accessories — although in this context, they feel too vital to survival to be named that. Hats and glasses block the glare of the sun; gaiters protect you from the sand, but, of all of these, perhaps the pack the runner takes is the most important. It must be lightweight, secure and large enough to carry everything the runner will need over six days. WAA produce bags designed specifically for the Marathon des Sables. A 20l backpack and 6l frontpack provide enough room for the stripped back kit runners take, whilst only weighing a few hundred grams to ensure competitors can remain light on their feet. The two packs strap together in order to stay secure, have multiple easy to access openings and have space for two water bottles — all qualities that matter when you’re on the move through the desert.
Whilst runners face temperatures of almost 50°C during the day, come night, they face an entirely different challenge. Marathon Des Sables competitors must pack a sleeping bag that is not only lightweight but can protect from the sub-zero temperatures that grip the Sahara Desert once the sun goes down. The issues of weight and heat have been solved by Yeti with their Fever Zero Down Sleeping Bag. The Fever Zero is the world’s lightest sleeping bag, weighing just 280g, but can protect the user from temperatures down to freezing. The incredible ratio of heat retention to weight is achieved through using the highest quality European goose down combined with Yeti’s “Next to Nothing 2.0” technology. An ultra-lightweight and tearproof fabric weighing just 20g/m², the ultra-fine 7-denier yarn is so unique only one factory in the world produces it. For this reason, Yeti provide unparalleled performance and the best chance at gaining some respite from the torturous six-day challenge.
The marathon pushes the limit of what humans can physically achieve on foot, but in reality, the distance covered barely scratches the Sahara’s surface. The desert is an imposing figure on the Earth’s surface, hulking across the African continent, with extreme conditions both day and night. It would take a lifetime for an individual to explore it truly; we are ant-like in comparison. Percy Shelley puts it best in his poem Ozymandias, “The lone and level sands stretch far away…”
