I just ran 159 miles through the Sahara in ‘The Toughest Footrace on Earth’ ― here’s what it was like

Matt Turner

The Marathon des Sables, a six-day race through the Sahara desert, has a hard-won reputation as “The Toughest Footrace on Earth.”

The 31st edition of the race, the longest yet at 159 miles, ended Saturday, April 16, and I was among the 973 who crossed the finish line.

The race is not for the faint-hearted.

The route takes in towering sand dunes, airless oueds (dried-up riverbeds), and scrambled jebel (rocky hill) ascents.

The distance comes in at almost a marathon a day, with the longest stage this year a punishing double marathon.

Competitors run or walk through 104-degree plus temperatures, carrying their food for the week. Water is rationed. Salt tablets are essential.

Competitors sleep in bivouac tents, which do little to retain warmth when the temperature drops overnight and offer limited resistance to sandstorms.

It is no surprise then that a lot of competitors don’t make it to the finish. There were 18 participants who didn’t make it past day one, according to the provisional results, and nearly 60 more dropped out on day two.

In all, around 130 were forced to drop out, often through no fault of their own. The desert is relentless, and there is a large slice of luck involved in surviving what it has to throw at you.

This is what “The Toughest Footrace on Earth” is like: