I’ve been following the 22nd Marathon des Sables for the last week. It was very sad that one of the competitors, Bernard Julé, died on 29 March, following Stage 4.
Today was Stage 6, the final stage. What an awesome race! I don’t know how people do it. Sand Dunes National Park is about 90 minutes drive from here. I used to go there regularly when it was Sand Dunes National Monument (National Monument -> National Park = Dogs allowed -> No dogs allowed). Climbing up the dunes is very difficult. I think running up them is impossible, but people do run up dunes when they are racing MDS.
There are lots of photos, videos and interviews on the website, www.darbaroud.com.
amazing. never in a million years could i do that. running 5 min in sand gives me the schitts.
I did a triathlon in Santa Cruz called the “sand man”… it was only a 4 mile run on the sand… and it was mostly hard compact sand from the tides… it was the hardest run I’ve ever done. It was fun, but hard.