Equipment
The Marathon des Sables is a foot race where participants must carry their own backpack containing food, sleeping bag and all other necessary items.
There is a list of compulsory survival equipment every runner must have to be allowed to start, such as small backpack, sleeping bag, compass, anti-venom pump, signalling mirror, distress flare, salt tablets etc.
All this should weight no less then 9kg and no more then 15kg. Additional weights to carry will be the daily water allocation given out by the race organisors at the daily starts and during the race. Each competitor must start this race with a minimum of 14,000 k/cal (this is 2,000 k/cal per day) of food.
Every day, each runner receives nine litres of water which is given out at departure, check-points and arrival. The water has to be managed from the starting line of one stage to the starting line of the following. This means a morning meal needs to be taken with the water from the previous day.
The equipment mentioned above is checked prior to the start of the competition and at spot-checks during the race. Failing to provide any of the compulsory equipment or the necessary k/cal of food at any of this checks will result in time penalties!
The organisors have very strict rules not only regarding individual runner's food and equipment, but also to protect the environment from littering. Rubbish or water bottles (marked with runners names) found along the race route result in severe penalties for runners.
List of items
Clothes and shoes
1 pair of compression-shorts, 1 micro-weight shirt, 1 micro-weight long-sleave
shirt, windbreaker, Buff, foreign-legion-type hat, 1 shirt for the evenings,
4 pairs of socks, flip-flops, running shoes, gaiters (glued to shoes),
sunglasses, goggles, white boiler suit.
Outdoor gear
30-liter backpack, shoulder straps for 2 bottles, ultra-light sleeping bag,
silk liner, headlight, spare batteries, waterbottles holders, 20 saftey
pins, compass, lighter, Swiss Army Knife, whistle, signaling mirror, survival
sheet, distress flare, luminous-light stick, roadbook, handheld waterbottle,
Velcro straps, watch, ski pols, solid-fuel cooker, spoon and fork, big
cup or bowl.
Food
7 breakfasts (i.e. oatmeals, nuts, puddings, bars), 7 lunches (i.e. gels,
bars, nuts, jerky), 6 dinners (i.e. freeze-dried meals, noodles), electrolyte
drink mix, recovery drink mix, milk powder, vitamins.
Medical Kit
Pain killers, sleeping pills, NewSkin, alcohol pads, corn pads for feet,
zinc oxide/Compeed tapes, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, salt tablets,
diarrhoea tablets, antiacid, leukoplast, band-aids, tropical disinfectant,
anti-venom pump.
Other
Notebook, pencil, small digital camera, small voice recorder, lighter, ear
plugs, needles, thread, plastic zip bags, sunscreen, lip balm, baby wipes,
toilet paper, hand sanitizer, tiny toothbrush, tiny toothpase, Q-tips,
multi-purpose soap, deodorant.
