News from Nick - Set up day and Stage 1

An email from Nick sent Sunday evening:
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Yesterday (Saturday) was a lot of getting kit ready and a final inspection and deciding what should be sent back to the hotel. My inspection went smoothly and I was given the all clear and weighing in with 10kgs! After that foll0wed a sandstorm which was pretty nasty especially blowing through the tent. Today (Sunday) we ran 31kms including 14ks through beautiful dunes. Then we hit the open flats which was v.v hot. Ben and I kept pushing each other to drink and take salt which seemed to work. The last stage took us back through dunes,which was tough back to the bivouac, we finished in 6hrs45mins. We were v happy with the time and just demolished a spag bol! We're feeling good and I only have 1 small blister but the gators have lost their stick, so off to do some repairs now and enjoy a choccie mousse and a good sleep hopefully.
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...go!

A photo from the official MDS website of the dramatic scenery surrounding the start this morning (they're in there somewhere...) :

On your marks... get set....

It seems like an eternity since Nick and Ben 2 years ago first thought this adventure would be a good idea, and just as long since we have known a weekend without running silly distances, so it is with great anticipation and excitement they are very nearly starting the race! All seems to have gone well with the Check-in day and they are now ready to go (...although I think Nick at least has been itching to start for a few weeks now).


It looks like the base camp has been situated a few km north of Merzouga, close to the famous Erg Chebbi dunes. These dunes are the first obstacle that they will have to face on stage 1, which will be a tough test, but at least they will have fresh legs to tackle them. Tomorrows stage is 31.6 km in total ending at another very much smaller set of dunes. This is a photo from the official MdS website of where they have been staying for the last 2 days -what an awesome view with the Erg Chebbi in the background!


You can check out the route for the 1st stage tomorrow here, along with links to some photos from todays Check-in day and press release.

Claire