:00:00. > :00:25.Sables is a six`day, 250`kilometre race across the Sahara Desert.
:00:26. > :00:41.The Sahara Desert, where you never escape the heat. It is not a place
:00:42. > :00:46.where you are meant to go long`distance running but every
:00:47. > :01:08.year, 1000 slightly crazy people from all over the world do. This is
:01:09. > :01:15.the Marathon des Sables. 1000 of us will start the race but not all of
:01:16. > :01:20.us will finish. You have to prove that you have had your heart and
:01:21. > :01:25.health tested by a doctor and your entry fee covers the cost of re` pet
:01:26. > :01:31.treating your body in case you die. It is a stupid thing to do. Why run
:01:32. > :01:35.across the desert? Your head is throbbing and your sweat is dripping
:01:36. > :01:40.around your eyes. The salt is burning. Your body is telling you to
:01:41. > :02:01.stop and your brain is telling you that you cannot stop. I want this to
:02:02. > :02:07.be a small moment in my life where I do something slightly radical. I
:02:08. > :02:19.just want to push myself to appoint where I have never been before `` a
:02:20. > :02:23.point. My name is Tom and I am a BBC journalist. I'm taking a six`week
:02:24. > :02:28.holiday and paying ?600 of my own money to take on this challenge. I
:02:29. > :02:36.will be joined by some good friends. And he is a consultant that lives in
:02:37. > :02:51.New York `` Andy. This is a banker and he lives in London. And Will is
:02:52. > :02:54.a doctor who lives in London. And my crazy to do this? I think with
:02:55. > :03:03.enough training we will be all right `` am I? The race happens every year
:03:04. > :03:18.in southern Morocco. We have to cover 250 km in six days across the
:03:19. > :03:24.desert. Now the waiting and training is over. We touched down in an
:03:25. > :03:31.airport close to the Algerian border but we still had a five`hour coach
:03:32. > :03:39.ride from base camp. We are travelling with a significant
:03:40. > :04:01.British contingent. Andy is taking a separate flight from New York. How
:04:02. > :04:14.are you? Good to see you? I have attend. `` a tent. Andy has already
:04:15. > :04:23.arrived at our first desert camp. Here we will spend A2 nights
:04:24. > :04:27.preparing our kit `` two, and contemplating the scale of the
:04:28. > :04:40.challenge ahead. Apparently there is a guy whose tent leaked. There is a
:04:41. > :04:45.guy who lives in Morocco in our tent. It is a tough year. I looked
:04:46. > :05:06.at the book and didn't understand the map. The first 15 km will be
:05:07. > :05:14.tough. Not only is this event 220 km in six days in 40 or 50 degrees heat
:05:15. > :05:20.but we also have to carry all our food, clothing and kit for the
:05:21. > :05:26.week. The rays organisers check that we have a list of compulsory safety
:05:27. > :05:31.items `` race. We then have a delicate balance to make. We don't
:05:32. > :05:35.want to carry too much weight but we need enough food for the extreme
:05:36. > :05:44.activity we faced during the day. There is the minimum amount of
:05:45. > :05:50.calories you need for the day. 14,000. So you have to go beyond
:05:51. > :05:57.that. We are all pushing 20,000 which most of the serious people
:05:58. > :06:06.here think is a bit of a joke. But our tactic is that we don't want to
:06:07. > :06:18.be hungry in the evening. What is the damage? 9.8 kilos. It is too
:06:19. > :06:22.much. I've got 21,000 calories and that is too much. But I would say
:06:23. > :06:31.that I am a third larger than the average. Andy has a tough call. How
:06:32. > :06:38.many snacks will he leave behind? I am letting these go back to the
:06:39. > :06:47.hotel. But I will see them in a week hopefully. I will miss them. Around
:06:48. > :06:51.15% of the crazy people who attempt the Marathon des Sables are female
:06:52. > :06:58.including one blind woman who runs with the guide. The races youngest
:06:59. > :07:05.competitor just 16 and the oldest 79. Most ardent European but there
:07:06. > :07:12.are runners from every continent in the world `` most are. And it is the
:07:13. > :07:16.Japanese contingent who are here to have the most fun and to suffer the
:07:17. > :07:35.most. You are going to run dressed like this? Yes. This coward fit. ``
:07:36. > :07:51.cow outfit. I like how. `` cow. I am crazy. Moo! The night before the
:07:52. > :07:56.start, we have a chance to compare our kit with the Moroccan desert
:07:57. > :08:10.champ who has won the race five times. How much do you carry? Six
:08:11. > :08:14.points seven kilograms `` 6.7. I didn't feel great when we got to the
:08:15. > :08:21.camp yesterday. I began to freak out a little bit. Mainly because all the
:08:22. > :08:30.maps and stuff... I am not the best map reader. I have a tendency to get
:08:31. > :08:37.lost in the Welsh countryside. My mother's last words on the phone on
:08:38. > :08:41.Thursday were, for God's sake, don't die. I think that's probably the
:08:42. > :08:53.general theme of most people I have spoken to stop ``. Physically I'm a
:08:54. > :09:01.little nervous. My knee is feeling good. I have sent texts to my wife
:09:02. > :09:09.Louise was very excited and proud. I am a little anxious. I wanted to get
:09:10. > :09:13.started. Andy is getting married in just a few weeks and as we are all
:09:14. > :09:24.leaving our phone behind him he there is time for a final call to
:09:25. > :09:32.his fiancee back home ``, there is. Love you sweetheart. See you in a
:09:33. > :09:51.week. Goodbye. Practicing the blues for us? Yeah. It is a stupid thing
:09:52. > :10:10.to do. Why run across the desert Wet ``? Why deprive your body of what it
:10:11. > :10:47.needs the most? Three, two, one. CHEERING. Finally we are off. Just
:10:48. > :10:51.220 km to go. Let's do this! The longest competitive race I have ever
:10:52. > :10:56.done was five and a half kilometres. I have only done a handful of runs
:10:57. > :11:31.until October last year. I don't really like running.
:11:32. > :11:41.At a mere 34 km, day one is the shortest stage but it is a brutal
:11:42. > :11:52.baptism in desert running with a long stretch of dunes are the very
:11:53. > :12:01.start `` near. We started off with 15 km of dunes which is draining on
:12:02. > :12:07.your energy. You can really feel it. You never run on that type of
:12:08. > :12:14.Sandy ground. It is not like running on the beach. It is really soft,
:12:15. > :12:27.especially on the big dunes. You putting your foot it slips and so
:12:28. > :12:35.does the next one `` and it slips. Then factor in the heat. 40`50
:12:36. > :12:41.degrees at the hottest and you don't realise how hot it is. Because of
:12:42. > :12:46.the wind to, you don't feel like you are sweating that much. It is a dry
:12:47. > :12:56.heat but then you realise you have had nine L of water throughout the
:12:57. > :13:00.day. `` litres. You have the sun beating down on your head and sweat
:13:01. > :13:10.dripping down into your eyes. The salt is burning your eyes.
:13:11. > :13:16.Running through the day, you can't escape the heat, you crave loads of
:13:17. > :13:22.water, you crave a cool bucket of water over your head. You crave a
:13:23. > :13:26.bit of shade. And there is no shade in the desert, almost. When you feel
:13:27. > :13:29.a gust of these, then it immediately lifts the spirits, and that tells
:13:30. > :13:41.you think how hot it is. It is the hottest I have ever been, apart from
:13:42. > :13:46.in a sauna. `` gust of breeze. After the dunes, our first checkpoint. A
:13:47. > :13:56.bit of a hot spot on the back of that he'll. `` heel. This list here
:13:57. > :14:16.is starting to... The chafing is worrying me. A bit of under
:14:17. > :14:21.chafing. Let's go. The dry, Haslett landscape which we cross it in
:14:22. > :14:27.hospitably beautiful `` Haslett landscape. Here we cross and
:14:28. > :14:38.abandoned village, we are travellers through one of the least inhabited
:14:39. > :14:45.parts of the earth. Brutal today. The first set of dunes were OK. That
:14:46. > :14:55.second set was just so difficult. I really struggled. But it is so good
:14:56. > :15:00.to be back. So good. I just want to see what the damage is tomorrow when
:15:01. > :15:08.I have slept on this. I'm a bit nervous. Today was really tough. The
:15:09. > :15:12.first set of dunes were OK, and then until there was a checkpoint it was
:15:13. > :15:16.fine. And then it just got hotter and hotter and hotter and harder and
:15:17. > :15:20.harder. And at last we were just counting down each kilometre of the
:15:21. > :15:26.last five kilometres, they were just absolutely brutal. People vomiting,
:15:27. > :15:31.there were people who were running in the beginning started walking,
:15:32. > :15:37.and then virtually crawling by the end. They just didn't finish. I felt
:15:38. > :15:47.like my shoulders were absolutely caning. I can really feel it here.
:15:48. > :15:53.There's a cramp in my abs, which wasn't a good sign. At the beginning
:15:54. > :16:01.we were treating it as a run walk, now it is a walk run. Two words,
:16:02. > :16:04.reality check. Crucial to completing a six`day race through the desert
:16:05. > :16:11.are your feet. And the race doctors have the unenviable task of treating
:16:12. > :16:17.dozens of blisters every night. Try to do it good so I don't have to
:16:18. > :16:23.come back. With 1000 runners and probably everybody will come to see
:16:24. > :16:33.us. We are like third now, 40 people working at the same time. That
:16:34. > :16:38.hurts. Sorry. We are lucky enough to have a doctor in our group,
:16:39. > :16:47.ironically, Doctor Wells' feet are the ones suffering the most. One of
:16:48. > :16:53.six or seven blisters that I've got. This is the meatiest one. I plan to
:16:54. > :17:01.pop it and then put some iodine. Medical diagnosis, Leicester.
:17:02. > :17:13.Self`diagnosis is extremely severe blister. But probably mild to
:17:14. > :17:27.insignificant. That is incredibly painful. Well done, mate. Necessary
:17:28. > :18:04.evil. Right, I'm giving up. Whereas the hotel? `` where is the Hotel?
:18:05. > :18:07.Battling the heat and sandy, rocky terrain of the desert, takes some
:18:08. > :18:13.getting used to. Get used to it you must. It is this is a six`day event.
:18:14. > :18:50.Run one desert marathon, and you wake up and run another again.
:18:51. > :18:57.Formidable. Almost immediately, every day, as soon as you cross the
:18:58. > :19:00.start line, a couple of miles in, your knees are saying oh, really?
:19:01. > :19:16.Are we really going to do this again? You just need to battle on.
:19:17. > :19:22.At the start of each day it was very, very painful, running on those
:19:23. > :19:43.feet. Run through it, run threat, and run through it. `` run through
:19:44. > :19:48.it. Maximum possible. It is really tough, it is much tougher than
:19:49. > :19:53.yesterday because the breeze has gone so you can really feel the heat
:19:54. > :19:57.on your head. It is we only have one bottle of water, it is quite tough.
:19:58. > :20:08.I am actually feeling not too bad. It could be a lot worse. That's
:20:09. > :20:15.good. Yes, go on. Down the back of the neck. Tree it actually quite
:20:16. > :20:19.cold. It's lovely. No one would want to go back and say they crashed out
:20:20. > :20:23.on day two after getting massively dehydrated. And that did happen to
:20:24. > :20:28.people, which happens in such an extreme event. Your body is trying
:20:29. > :20:32.to tell you to stop, and your brain telling you not to. But that
:20:33. > :20:39.balancing act between brain and body is hard to get right in extreme
:20:40. > :20:48.conditions. And at the finish of 41 kilometre they two, we witness Lee
:20:49. > :20:54.from Great Britain. As he inches, aided over the line, it is clear
:20:55. > :21:11.that Lee has pushed himself to the very limit. Lee is later airlifted
:21:12. > :21:15.on one of the two helicopters on standby for medical emergencies. At
:21:16. > :21:22.hospital, he experiences multiple organ failure, and he is in a coma
:21:23. > :21:33.for a week. Lee has now fully recovered, and is planning to run
:21:34. > :21:36.again. TRANSLATION: Doctor Fred leads a large team of medics who
:21:37. > :22:12.work tirelessly throughout the event.
:22:13. > :22:22.As the week progresses, the number of casualties mount. 15% of
:22:23. > :22:41.competitors will not make it. Instead they will get an early lift
:22:42. > :22:49.home. Coming up next time, we face by far our most daunting challenge.
:22:50. > :22:55.They four is an 81 kilometre stage. `` they four. This will be by far
:22:56. > :22:57.the furthest and the hardest run that any of us have ever done. ``
:22:58. > :23:16.day four. Hello. Some pretty heavy rain
:23:17. > :23:17.working its way steadily northwards