Episode 1 Racing the Sahara

Sables is a six`day, 250`kilometre race across the Sahara Desert.

The Sahara Desert, where you never escape the heat. It is not a place

where you are meant to go long`distance running but every

year, 1000 slightly crazy people from all over the world do. This is

the Marathon des Sables. 1000 of us will start the race but not all of

us will finish. You have to prove that you have had your heart and

health tested by a doctor and your entry fee covers the cost of re` pet

treating your body in case you die. It is a stupid thing to do. Why run

across the desert? Your head is throbbing and your sweat is dripping

around your eyes. The salt is burning. Your body is telling you to

stop and your brain is telling you that you cannot stop. I want this to

be a small moment in my life where I do something slightly radical. I

just want to push myself to appoint where I have never been before `` a

point. My name is Tom and I am a BBC journalist. I'm taking a six`week

holiday and paying ?600 of my own money to take on this challenge. I

will be joined by some good friends. And he is a consultant that lives in

New York `` Andy. This is a banker and he lives in London. And Will is

a doctor who lives in London. And my crazy to do this? I think with

enough training we will be all right `` am I? The race happens every year

in southern Morocco. We have to cover 250 km in six days across the

desert. Now the waiting and training is over. We touched down in an

airport close to the Algerian border but we still had a five`hour coach

ride from base camp. We are travelling with a significant

British contingent. Andy is taking a separate flight from New York. How

are you? Good to see you? I have attend. `` a tent. Andy has already

arrived at our first desert camp. Here we will spend A2 nights

preparing our kit `` two, and contemplating the scale of the

challenge ahead. Apparently there is a guy whose tent leaked. There is a

guy who lives in Morocco in our tent. It is a tough year. I looked

at the book and didn't understand the map. The first 15 km will be

tough. Not only is this event 220 km in six days in 40 or 50 degrees heat

but we also have to carry all our food, clothing and kit for the

week. The rays organisers check that we have a list of compulsory safety

items `` race. We then have a delicate balance to make. We don't

want to carry too much weight but we need enough food for the extreme

activity we faced during the day. There is the minimum amount of

calories you need for the day. 14,000. So you have to go beyond

that. We are all pushing 20,000 which most of the serious people

here think is a bit of a joke. But our tactic is that we don't want to

be hungry in the evening. What is the damage? 9.8 kilos. It is too

much. I've got 21,000 calories and that is too much. But I would say

that I am a third larger than the average. Andy has a tough call. How

many snacks will he leave behind? I am letting these go back to the

hotel. But I will see them in a week hopefully. I will miss them. Around

15% of the crazy people who attempt the Marathon des Sables are female

including one blind woman who runs with the guide. The races youngest

competitor just 16 and the oldest 79. Most ardent European but there

are runners from every continent in the world `` most are. And it is the

Japanese contingent who are here to have the most fun and to suffer the

most. You are going to run dressed like this? Yes. This coward fit. ``

cow outfit. I like how. `` cow. I am crazy. Moo! The night before the

start, we have a chance to compare our kit with the Moroccan desert

champ who has won the race five times. How much do you carry? Six

points seven kilograms `` 6.7. I didn't feel great when we got to the

camp yesterday. I began to freak out a little bit. Mainly because all the

maps and stuff... I am not the best map reader. I have a tendency to get

lost in the Welsh countryside. My mother's last words on the phone on

Thursday were, for God's sake, don't die. I think that's probably the

general theme of most people I have spoken to stop ``. Physically I'm a

little nervous. My knee is feeling good. I have sent texts to my wife

Louise was very excited and proud. I am a little anxious. I wanted to get

started. Andy is getting married in just a few weeks and as we are all

leaving our phone behind him he there is time for a final call to

his fiancee back home ``, there is. Love you sweetheart. See you in a

week. Goodbye. Practicing the blues for us? Yeah. It is a stupid thing

to do. Why run across the desert Wet ``? Why deprive your body of what it

needs the most? Three, two, one. CHEERING. Finally we are off. Just

220 km to go. Let's do this! The longest competitive race I have ever

done was five and a half kilometres. I have only done a handful of runs

until October last year. I don't really like running.

At a mere 34 km, day one is the shortest stage but it is a brutal

baptism in desert running with a long stretch of dunes are the very

start `` near. We started off with 15 km of dunes which is draining on

your energy. You can really feel it. You never run on that type of

Sandy ground. It is not like running on the beach. It is really soft,

especially on the big dunes. You putting your foot it slips and so

does the next one `` and it slips. Then factor in the heat. 40`50

degrees at the hottest and you don't realise how hot it is. Because of

the wind to, you don't feel like you are sweating that much. It is a dry

heat but then you realise you have had nine L of water throughout the

day. `` litres. You have the sun beating down on your head and sweat

dripping down into your eyes. The salt is burning your eyes.

Running through the day, you can't escape the heat, you crave loads of

water, you crave a cool bucket of water over your head. You crave a

bit of shade. And there is no shade in the desert, almost. When you feel

a gust of these, then it immediately lifts the spirits, and that tells

you think how hot it is. It is the hottest I have ever been, apart from

in a sauna. `` gust of breeze. After the dunes, our first checkpoint. A

bit of a hot spot on the back of that he'll. `` heel. This list here

is starting to... The chafing is worrying me. A bit of under

chafing. Let's go. The dry, Haslett landscape which we cross it in

hospitably beautiful `` Haslett landscape. Here we cross and

abandoned village, we are travellers through one of the least inhabited

parts of the earth. Brutal today. The first set of dunes were OK. That

second set was just so difficult. I really struggled. But it is so good

to be back. So good. I just want to see what the damage is tomorrow when

I have slept on this. I'm a bit nervous. Today was really tough. The

first set of dunes were OK, and then until there was a checkpoint it was

fine. And then it just got hotter and hotter and hotter and harder and

harder. And at last we were just counting down each kilometre of the

last five kilometres, they were just absolutely brutal. People vomiting,

there were people who were running in the beginning started walking,

and then virtually crawling by the end. They just didn't finish. I felt

like my shoulders were absolutely caning. I can really feel it here.

There's a cramp in my abs, which wasn't a good sign. At the beginning

we were treating it as a run walk, now it is a walk run. Two words,

reality check. Crucial to completing a six`day race through the desert

are your feet. And the race doctors have the unenviable task of treating

dozens of blisters every night. Try to do it good so I don't have to

come back. With 1000 runners and probably everybody will come to see

us. We are like third now, 40 people working at the same time. That

hurts. Sorry. We are lucky enough to have a doctor in our group,

ironically, Doctor Wells' feet are the ones suffering the most. One of

six or seven blisters that I've got. This is the meatiest one. I plan to

pop it and then put some iodine. Medical diagnosis, Leicester.

Self`diagnosis is extremely severe blister. But probably mild to

insignificant. That is incredibly painful. Well done, mate. Necessary

evil. Right, I'm giving up. Whereas the hotel? `` where is the Hotel?

Battling the heat and sandy, rocky terrain of the desert, takes some

getting used to. Get used to it you must. It is this is a six`day event.

Run one desert marathon, and you wake up and run another again.

Formidable. Almost immediately, every day, as soon as you cross the

start line, a couple of miles in, your knees are saying oh, really?

Are we really going to do this again? You just need to battle on.

At the start of each day it was very, very painful, running on those

feet. Run through it, run threat, and run through it. `` run through

it. Maximum possible. It is really tough, it is much tougher than

yesterday because the breeze has gone so you can really feel the heat

on your head. It is we only have one bottle of water, it is quite tough.

I am actually feeling not too bad. It could be a lot worse. That's

good. Yes, go on. Down the back of the neck. Tree it actually quite

cold. It's lovely. No one would want to go back and say they crashed out

on day two after getting massively dehydrated. And that did happen to

people, which happens in such an extreme event. Your body is trying

to tell you to stop, and your brain telling you not to. But that

balancing act between brain and body is hard to get right in extreme

conditions. And at the finish of 41 kilometre they two, we witness Lee

from Great Britain. As he inches, aided over the line, it is clear

that Lee has pushed himself to the very limit. Lee is later airlifted

on one of the two helicopters on standby for medical emergencies. At

hospital, he experiences multiple organ failure, and he is in a coma

for a week. Lee has now fully recovered, and is planning to run

again. TRANSLATION: Doctor Fred leads a large team of medics who

work tirelessly throughout the event.

As the week progresses, the number of casualties mount. 15% of

competitors will not make it. Instead they will get an early lift

home. Coming up next time, we face by far our most daunting challenge.

They four is an 81 kilometre stage. `` they four. This will be by far

the furthest and the hardest run that any of us have ever done. ``

day four. Hello. Some pretty heavy rain

working its way steadily northwards