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I just got back from Africa yesterday and aside from an insane stomach "thing" I got from eating sheep I feel great! NOT ONE BLISTER! I can't thank you enough for my Arriva Holofiber Socks - they really do work!!
Here is the story of my race:
I ended up finishing in third place just minutes behind second in the Trans 333 which is a 333 km non-stop footrace across the Tenere Desert in Niger, Africa. It took approx. 64 hours of running in sometimes deep sand, super rocky terrain, and sand storms with insane heat to finish.
Getting there was an adventure in itself. We flew from Paris to Agadez airstrip in Niger. Airstrip is an understatement ! The ancient Air Medeterrainian 737 barely had any room to land. It was basically a strip of asphalt in the desert with an airport that was a concrete room. From the airport we headed into Agadez which is one of the larger cities in Niger. It was a city of clay buildings with very little modern implements. No traffic lights, signs or asphalt roads.
It was like a mix of old and new. Exhaust fumes filled the air from scooters and Landcruisers.
The athletes all met and we left for a two day trip into the desert for the start of the race. Our Toureg (desert folk) guides drove us in landcruisers out into the desert to the start which was at the Arb De Tenere (a monument to the last standing tree in the Tenere Desert which apparently died). We bivied after driving for a day and then carried on into day 2. Looking around at the vastness of the desert I couldn't believe we had to run all the way back to Agadez ! At one point on our journey out our Landcruiser broke down-yikes ! But they got it going and off we went.
The start of the race was at 4:30 am on Monday. There was a wind blowing and as we stood at the start I was running through my mind if I had packed enough bars and gels and Hydrade into my dropbags. There was 14 cp's approx. 22 km's apart where you would retrieve your dropbags and get more water. We would navigate to each cp with the aid of a gps and occasional markers.
The first 66 km's were hot, deep and sand-stormy. I did my best to stay with the leaders who were all from France. These guys were amazing. Everybody seemed to really know their stuff and all were experienced desert racers so I learned as much as I could from them. They referred to me as "Canadien" for the remainder fo the race and it became my nickname !
The vastness of the Tenere desert was different then the Sahara. There is a constant strong wind and sand blows like blowing snow here. It wore the lamination off of my sunglasses ! My strategy was to try and run the first 160 km in around 24 hours. The heat and sand was making that goal tough but I think I was in around 27 hours. I would run as far as I could and then whip my bivy sac out of my pack, crash for 10 minutes and then carry on. Running for hours on your own in the desert you see cool stuff. I ran through herds of camels, saw armed men on trucks coming from Libya (I assume)driving straight through the middle of nowhere !
After running approx. 230 km's it was apparent I was in second place ! I couldn't believe it ! My new Italian friend Max who was 15th at Marathon Des Sables was ahead of me but had to drop out because of a knee injury. He came back in a landrover to tell me my position. The cp support staff in this race were amazing. We would come in and they would immediately offer us food, water and our dropbags. Cp's were always where they said they would be to the meter and the staff were so-o-o friendly. Without them this race would be impossible. I maintained my 2nd place until the last cp at km no. 310. As I was about to leave Theo, the French runner who won last years edition was coming into the cp. I asked if he would like to run together to the finish and he agreed so I waited while he grabbed a bite and off we went. With about 1.5 km's to go we got seperated and ended up at the finish 12 minutes apart. I was still so happy to finish third among these awesome runners! This was a toughy. Much different than the Marathon Des Sables. I guess because all the miles are done at once. The sand was also tougher to run in. I made lots of new friends in this race that I hope to keep contact with and hope to see at the Marathon Des Sables in 2005.
I have had a great year and I thank all of you who sent me emails and support. All of your positive energy has made this year unforgettable ! Please keep in contact and keep watching my website as photos will be added in December and January from Jungle Marathon, TransAlp and Trans 333. So, here is the year in review:
Yukon Arctic Ultra Feb. 160 km non-stop footrace 1st place Yukon, Canada Marathon Des Sables Apr. 243 km stage footrace 47th Morrocco
TransAlp 650 km mountain bike stage race across Europe Germany-Italy
Jungle Marathon Sept. 200 km stage, 1st team, 8th solo Para, Brazil
Trans 333 333km non stop footrace, 3rd Niger, Africa
Cheers For Now !!
Ray Zahab
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