“It was hot!  It was hard! It was awesome! – A true adventure.     This race is a must for individuals who wish to test their limits on physical and mental endurance” Pete Holdgate, 2008 Ultra Runner.

The Namib Ultra Marathon is a marathon with a difference; 120 km in 24hrs across one of the worlds most stunning but challenging desert terrian based around Brandberg the countries highest peak and heading towards the finish line on the infamous Skeleton Coast.

The challenge is proving to be a popular one so early sign up is recommended and you can find out more here.   Adventure Racing in Namibia.

NowPublic

Expedition and Wilderness Medicine handbook

Visit the Expedition and Medicine website now and you will be able to purchased one most of the most comprehensively written handbooks compiled specifically with medical professionals in mind.

Available as a down-loadable PDF for £15 where no trees were harmed in its production or as hard copy for £18 including post and packaging- this A5 size booked by Drs, Sean Hudson and Caroline Knox, featuring the expedition photography of Mark Hannaford and written with the support of Across the Divide Expeditions is sure to be an instant best sellers … well at least in the circles we move in!

BUY IT NOW!!

About the authors

Dr Sean HudsonMSc MBBS is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and on the expeditionary advisory board for Summit. Sean has been involved in a wide variety of expeditions over the last 20 years. During this time he has trekked across the Darien Gap and the Thar Desert; worked as a trekking guide and Chief Medic for Raleigh International in Namibia and Zimbabwe; a trauma medic in Columbia;

a ski field doctor in New Zealand; spent a season in the Antarctica and acted as an advisor to the Foreign Office following natural disasters. Since 1998 he has worked for Across the Divide Expeditionsas medic and expedition medicine advisor, providing medical cover on expeditions in 21 different countries. Dogsledding to Desert trekking in Namibia.

Dr Caroline Knox qualified in Medicine at Newcastle in 1993, and has worked in various specialties, including anaesthetics. A planned six months abroad turned into two and a half years; this included extensive travelling, two Raleigh International Expeditions(one as Chief Medic) and a stint with Mount Hutt Ski Patrol in New Zealand. Caroline has been a Medical Officer with Across the Divide on thirteen expeditions in four different continents over the past 6 years. In 2004 Caroline was the Medical Officer for the Richard Lander Expedition in Nigeria. The Police Expedition Society traced the route of an oft-forgotten British Explorer - Richard Lander: following the River Niger for 700km. Caroline’s latest trip in October 2005 was to Nepal

Some of the many other contributers

Mark Hannaford graduated with a degree in Geography and a profound appetite to explore the world. He spent some time with UK TA Special Forces and is the founding director of both Across the Divide Expeditions and Expedition Medicine. He has been involved with expeditions for over 23 years and has led expeditions to all of the worlds continents with Raleigh International, Linblad Expeditions, Explore, Discover Adventure, Noble Caledonia and Across the Divide Expeditions.

Piers Cartergraduated from Birmingham University with a degree in Physical Education, which he then followed up with a PGCE in PE and English. He has been involved in expeditions to Southern Africa, Australia and has recently returned from Cambodia and is the founder and director of an innovative training and development company based near Sheffield called Carter Wade, which specialises in creative learning experiences for organisations and their people.

Theo Weston.A full time G.P. in semi-rural 10 partner practice in Penrith, Cumbria, since 1982. He joined the Practice after spending several years following G.P. Training going on expeditions to various parts of the world as expedition doctor, including Greenland, the Kashmir, the Yukon, a transatlantic sailing trip on board a square rigger and to the Bahamas.He was drawn to the Lakes, where he grew up, because of the opportunities to walk, climb and sail, and has been a Medical Officer on the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team since returning to Penrith. He is also Chairman for the local Pre-hospital Immediate Care Scheme(B.A.S.I.C.S.), is actively involved in attending all road traffic accidents and other emergencies in a radius of 10-15 miles from Penrith and has set up a charity to fund an immediate response vehicle, which is used by doctors to perform this work. The book, the second edition, contains the following chapter titles.

Denny Levett. Trained in Cambridge and Oxford before moving to London to pursue a career as an intensive care physician. Took a career break for a year to indulge in a passion for diving working as the expedition doctor on two marine biology expeditions in Tanzania and The Hallaniyat Islands. Worked as a medic for Across the Divide Expeditions since 1999 accompanying trips to Nepal, Guatemala, Chile and Peru. Denny combines work and play as Deputy Director of the Centre for Aviation, Space and Extreme Environment Medicineat University College London. Honorary lecturer in diving physiology at UCL and clinical lead of diving and hyperbaric medicine research division. She was the medical lead on the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expedition.

Mike Townend. Writer and lecturer on travel medicine, Hon Clinical Teacher, University of Glasgow and Tutor in Travel Medicine, St Martin’s College, Lancaster. Author of Travel Health for the Primary Care Team and contributor of chapters to other books including Travel Medicine and Migrant Health. Member of the Executive Committee of the British Travel Health Association. Mike was a GP in Cockermouth for many years and a member of the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team. He has participated in several Himalayan expeditions and overland travel through Europe and Asia. He now takes groups abroad involving activities such as trekking and white water rafting, acting as group leader and doctor. These activities take him Europe, North Africa, Nepal, Bhutan, South America and South East Asia.

Kathy Wilson.Qualified 1986 form Edinburgh Dental School and has worked in Maxillofacial Surgery, the Community Dental Service and Newcastle Dental School and Hospital. Present role is working with those with Special Needs and in the field of Conscious Sedation for Dentistry. Have always enjoyed travelling and shortly after qualifying worked in Australia for 6 months. Have carried out voluntary dentistry in Nepal, Israel and Africa where basic facilities prevail.

Chapter 1 Pre-expedition planning.

• Expedition Medicine and role of the medical officer
• Medical Kits
• Medico-legal aspects of expeditions
• Client and expeditionary team members medical assessment
• Vaccinations
• Risk assessment and casevac planning

Chapter 2 Expeditions in the field.

• Expedition briefing and medical training
• Tropical medicine fauna and flora
• Expedition public health
• Dental emergencies on expedition
• Managing road traffic collisions and extraction
• Primary survey and care of the trauma patient
• Shock and fluid balance
• IV access and injections
• Wound management
• Analgesia in the field
• Fracture immobilisation and joint relocation

Chapter 3 Extreme Environment Medicine

• Expedition Medicine in a hot environment
• Expedition Medicine in a cold environment
• Altitude medicine
• Diving Medicine and marine medicine

Chapter 4 Expeditionary Skills

• Communication
• Weather
• Aeromedical evacuation
• Group dynamics and understanding behaviour
• The art of verbal judo
• River crossing
• Improvised carry techniques

Mark, whose images appear regulary in the travel sections of a number of national newspapers, has establish a new web gallery of some of this best images at the Red Bubble website.

If you would like to see more of the stunning images available as cards, prints and posters follow this link; Travel Photography Gallery

Namibia Ultra Marathon Race

Following is an account as seen from the eyes of a guide/marshal, during this epic event in Namibia organised by Across the Divide Expeditions to find out more about the race visit adventure-racing.org here.

About the author.  Kobus Alberts is a former park ranger and guide, a director of Wild at Heart Safaris an instructor of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine’s Desert Medicine training course and an acknowledged expert on desert travel. 

Saw the men for the first time at the Airport when they were collected.  Ordinary men of different walks of life.

The campsite was just South of the Brandberg Mountain, and the perfect setting for the starting point. The “rest” day, 1 day before the race, me and the participants went for a walk-about in the area. Climbed an inselbergs to get a bird’s eye view of the area. “Uncle Spikes” a.k.a. the sun were out and burning down for everyone to feel. Near the end of the walk some guys were out of water already, just showing how easy it is to misjudge the intense heat and all of this only in the morning part of the day.

Afternoon spent on briefings, GPS training, and inspecting the race packs.

Already you could feel the excitement of the guys.  They looked relaxed but it is the small jittery movements of eyes, fingers, a tapping of a leg that gives away that building excitement in them.  The team consisting of Steve, Doc Amy, myself, Faan and his team were also getting in this mode.

7^th of April 2008. Awake at 05:15. Lying in bed, smoking my pipe and listening o the camp sounds. That feeling of intense excitement now totally tangible in my body and soul.

The first guys up were Andy and the Swede, Joakim. Drinking coffee, and Andy having his “curry pot” for extra calories.

At 09:00 Faan starts the race. Now my work starts in all earnest. Getting into the Land Cruiser with Amy we drive to check point 2. On the way drive past checkpoint 1 where Steve is waiting for the first runners.  The strain is clearly visible in his eyes, but now at least he cracks a smile. It has started. Now all we can do is hurry up and wait.

After setting up Check point 2 we drive back to see if we can spot Tom. We duly did, and he is walking. Says it is hot and hard. We then drive back and I leave Amy at Checkpoint 2. I head south to set up Check point 3. Driving through the Messum Crater is and will always be something special.  After the good rains there is a lot of grass and small flowers present. Saw one herd of Springbuck, totalling about 25 animals, just grazing and staring in amazement at the Land cruiser.

The radio crackles into live. Faan and Steve are on their way to CP 3, and I must return to collect Amy. All the runners have passed Check point 1, so the race is truly on. Just before checkpoint 2 I meet Joakim and Andy on the road. Says all is going well, but Andy has a bladder problem and seemingly cannot urinate. After talking a while I head to checkpoint 2. Allan, Chris and Ken are there. They look really tired, especially Chris. Eating some energy bars and just resting.  I decide to head to Checkpoint 1 to start “sweeping”.  I will collect all the markers after the runners have passed. Around the corner of checkpoint 2 I meet Bill and Pete. They walking a steady good pace and still looked strong.

I arrive back at Checkpoint 2 again at 17:10. Bill and Pete have just left this check point. Amy and I drive to checkpoint 3. On the way we start putting up the glow sticks for the runners as they would approach checkpoint 3 in darkness.

At checkpoint 3 I leave Amy and collect Steve, setting off to checkpoint 4. Tom has passed this point about 1 hour and 30 minute ago. Following a badly corrugated road we drive in silence. Steve is tense due to the fact that Tom might reach checkpoint 4 before us. As darkness descends we spot Tom up ahead. He is still about 5 Kilometre from checkpoint 4. With a sigh of relief we pass him and about 2 Kilometre from checkpoint 4 we meet Faan. He takes Steve and I take some more glow sticks and head back to checkpoint 3. It is now totally dark, and as I drive alone I feel the tiredness seeping into my body. Every time I get out putting up a glow stick I feel the cold night wind, and then I think of the men doing the race. I am feeling tired from sitting in a vehicle and driving around, how must they feel?  My respect is growing very quickly for these guys.  Andy has now left Joakim behind and is walking a strong pace. He seems to have recovered a bit, but still you can see the pain in his face.  Joakim is not far behind and also keeping up a steady walking pace.

At checkpoint 3 I find Amy, Jane and Fred.  In the distance I can see headlights bobbing as the guys are heading to this checkpoint. Allan and Ken come in and immediately start up their stove and cook some food. Good idea as it is getting quite cold now.

Once again I head off towards checkpoint 2 to collect all the markers. Pete and Bill not so far behind anymore. They must have increased their pace. Sadly it is uphill to checkpoint 3, but I have no doubt that they would make it.

On my return I find that the heat of the day had taken its toll on Chris. He is asleep in a sleeping bag, and really looks very tired and exhausted.

After dismantling checkpoint 3 we head towards checkpoint 4. Suddenly Bill and Pete appear in our headlights. They have changed into long pants for the evening part of the race, but are finding it too hot, so changing back to their normal running gear.

Will has now joined Allan and Ken and was looking good.

At checkpoint 4 I find that Andy has already left.  After a while Joakim comes in. He drinks some water and then just flops down onto the ground. I can see the Swede is very tired now, but still he has a grin on his face. After reading some of his goodwill notes to me and Amy he heads off.

I return to my duty of collecting all the markers again. Stopping shortly at all the runners as I pass them to enquire if all is ok. All give me the thumbs up.

I return again at about 02:00. It is now cold and the breeze from the sea makes it colder. I am dog tired, but every time I just tell myself to put myself in the shoes of the runners. They must be tired to the extreme, yet they continue. Men of men. 80 Kilometre done, 40 Kilometre to go.

The road to checkpoint 5 is without incident. I am glad they are doing this bit in the night, because it must be a dull landscape. Plains and more plains. Saw some jackal and some springbuck in the lights of the vehicle.  In the distance I can see the welcoming flicker of the strobe. Pulling up I see it is Steve that is manning this post. He was sitting in his sleeping bag. To just sit and wait in this cold must be as hard as walking it, but Steve does it with dogged determination. I hear that Tom has reached the finish line already. Andy is through, followed by the Swede. In the distance I can see the headlights of Allan, Will and Ken coming closer. As they reach Checkpoint 5 I drive back again. About 3 kilometres down the road I meet up with Bill and Pete, and inform Steve accordingly.  The end is in sight for the whole team.

After collecting all the markers I drive back and find Pete and Bill at checkpoint 5. They are having water and preparing for the final stretch. I now drive to camp and the finish line. Making some coffee for myself, Steve and Faan I head back out again. It is now 06:10 and dawn is in sight.  Will, Ken and Allan are doing well, but you can see the blisters are taking their toll in full force. The guys or nearly hobbling along. Pete and Bill also seems like they are suffering.  Andy and Joakim are in camp by the time I return. I take Jane out to where Pete and Bill was last seen, so that she can encourage and morally support them, as they are in dire need of support.

For the final time I drive the road between checkpoint 5 and the finish line. At camp there is a subdued silence as we can see the three figures of Allan, Ken and Will slowly making their way to the finish line.

Allan and Ken pull slightly ahead and leave Will to make his own way to the finish. Chris walks out from camp towards Will to help him the last bit.  As the people in camp start clapping hands Allan and Ken cross the finish line. Goosebumps all over my body as I see the light in their eyes, the wide smiles, the utter exhaustion. Now Will makes his way across the finish line.

Nervously checking our watches and realising time is running out for Bill and Pete, the only thing we can do is to wait. Then they appear, with the figure of Jane with them. Like the men they are they walk over the finish line with smiles upon their faces and a song in their heart.

As I write this I get goose bumps again, and my respect for these 9 guys is immense.  Started off fit and fresh and most of them hobbled over the finish line, totally and utterly exhausted, but they have done it.

To say this ultra marathon is hard is an understatement.

To say it is very hard and tough is a matter of fact.

To be able to say you have done it puts you in a different category of men.

Congratulations to all these men of men. Faan, Steve, Amy and all the camp hands, congratulations on a job very well done.

Kobus Alberts

P.S. What I have seen while doing this work has caused me to also enter this ultra marathon race.  Andy and Joakim, see you on the starting line 7 April 2009.   You can sign up to by visiting the Namibia Ultra Marathon adventure race website here

The Namibia 24 hour Ultra Race has just finished and we are delighted to announce the winners:

Picture: Tom Maguire winner of the Namibia Ultra Race, coming into checkpoint 3, just over halfway at 62km

1.    Tom Maguire, 17 hours, 15 minutes

2.    Andrew McMenemy, 21 hours, 40 minutes

3.    Joakim (Rolf) Jonsson, 22 hours, 24 minutes - who has never run a marathon before!

4.    Kenneth Dunne, 23 hours, 22 minutes

4.    Alan Logue, 23 hours, 22 minutes

6.    William May, 23 hours, 26 minutes

7.    Pete Holdgate, 23 hours, 39 minutes

7.    Bill Martin, 32 hours, 39 minutes

9.    Chris McCarthy, DNF

The 120km route traversed gravel plains framed by distant ridges and mountains, running past dramatic upheavals of granite inselbergs.  All participants remained self sufficient over the 24 hour period, carrying all their own food and equipment - although water was provided at every checkpoint. Nine runners completed the race.

All runners thought the race was very well organised, a great route and one of the toughest challenges ever.  “It was hot, it was hard, it was awesome! A true adventure!  This is a MUST for individuals who wish to test their limits on physical and mental endurancePete Holdgate, who finished in joint 7th place.

Tom the ‘coolest marathon runner’, is already a record holder of the North Pole Marathon (2007) so now adds one of the hottest marathons to his list of achievements. 

The Namibia Ultra Race is part of a new series of running events launched by Across the Divide.   Steve Clark, from Across the Divide and an ultra marathon runner himself explains: “These races are designed to attract the attention of experienced marathon runners, charity fundraisers and charitable organisations, our adventure series can help gain the interest of sponsors by being out of the ordinary. “

120 kilometres from Namibia’s highest peak Brandberg to its desolate Skeleton Coast crossing some of Namibia most dramatic and unforgiving landscapes.

The first Namibia Desert Marathon finished with a winning time of 17 hours and 15 minutes set by Tom Maguire- an incredible time and a course record to beat.  

‘It’s one of the world’s most incredible places and these guys have achieved something incredible merely completing the race let along in the times that they managed’

Route Manager and veteran adventure racer Steve Clark of Adventure-racing.org

The Plymouth Herald’d Editor and Picture Editor joined us on the race and have done a blog here

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

First section 21km:

The race starts on the gravel plains of Brandberg and head in a westerly direction towards the first medical and water stop at 21km at the origin of Messum River. The terrain during most of this section is undulating and firm underfoot, but with road corrugations from time to time.

Second section 21km:

The route continues along in a westerly direction to the second checkpoint and 42km finish line at the entrance to Messum gorge.  The terrain will remain flat and firm underfoot initially.  As we enter the gorge, we will be following 4×4 tracks which will be firm under foot, though uneven under foot in places.

Third Section: 20km:

The third check-point finds us at the exit of the Messum crater.  We will continue running in a westerly direction towards the coast on gravel plains following 4×4 tracks.

Fourth Section: 20.1km:

Leaving Messum crater behind, we run along the gravel plains towards the coast. The gravel plains make way for the odd low rocky ridges that break the monotony of flat running, with small sandy spots where dry water courses are crossed.  We reach our fourth checkpoint at the start of the lichen fields.

Fifth Section: 20km:

The route is now heading downwards in a south-westerly direction to the fifth medical and water stop which is again after 20kms. This part crosses lichen fields and mostly flat terrain with soft but gravelly parts here and there.

Sixth Section: 19km:

The final section follows cuts across the gravel plains, then follows along the C34 for a couple of km’s.  From the road, we head again west across the plains to the finish line on the beach at Mile 72 campsite. 

Find out more about Adventure Racing in Namibia here.

There are not many places left in the world that have not been fully explored but the Kuiseb Canyon located deep within Namibia Namib-Naukluft is one such place.

Its remoteness, inhospitality and lack of water have stopped easy travel though its hidden folds and preserved a landscape little influenced by outside influences.

However, recently an expedition to traverse its most inaccessible sections was mounted by former Namib Park Ranger Kobus Alberts from Namibia and veteran explorer and director of adventure travel company Across the Divide Expeditions, Mark Hannaford. Starting at the Kuiseb Bridge and finishing at the Topnar settlement at Homeb its aim was to be the longest ever journey through the canyon and to record via video and photography the interior this remote area.

The main challenges to the expedition were expected to be very high temperatures within the canyon itself, expected to be in the region of 50 C, hyenas, a lack of water, the nigh time presence of marauding hyenas and the physical challenge of trekking 110 kilometres over difficult terrain. Preparation for the journey started the year before with special permission being kindly granted by the Namibia National Park Authority and the incumbent park manager Manie Le Roux and the preparation of the comprehensive route and safety plan.

Given the lack of any sort of road in the area of the canyon - the impossibly of landing a helicopter within the narrow confines of the canyon itself the safety plan ended up being pretty simple - don’t get injured and if you do break a leg be prepared to wait four days before getting out.

The reality of the journey turned out to be somewhat different than expected, the 2008 wet season resulted in the much higher rainfall levels than normal with the plains surrounding the canyon erupting in a multi coloured carpet of otherwise dormant wild flowers and rather than a dry and water-scarce route the valley was flooded in some places wall-to-wall by a Kuiseb River in full flow. The flood water solved one problem of finding drinking water for the expedition but created a number of others. Quicksand and deep mud made movement in some areas virtually impossible without a massive effort or in some cases a long excursion up the side of the towering cliffs of canyon walls following meandering zebra trails. The manner in which these trails skirted obstacles and wended their way past seemingly impossible obstacles filled us with renewed admiration for the agility of the Mountain Zebras.

It was within ten paces of the start of the trek that we entered the river and seemingly we didn’t seem to exit it until four days later, we had expected the whole journey to take us about three and half days walking an average of about 30 kilometres a day - distances Kobus and I frequently walk together but this was based on a dry relatively flat canyon bottom with early morning starts resting during the hottest part of the day and then continuing on until the early evening before camping.

The first evening saw us camping under a protective rock overhand a couple kilometres ahead of our schedule an in high spirits with our initial target reached and exceeded. The valley was still quite open and whilst the river was certainly flowing the banks on either side afforded us a good walking surface and the chance to spot the spoor of Gemsbok (Oryx), Hyena, Mountain Zebra and Springbok. Our main concern this evening was the presence of hyenas.

The canyon has a well deserved reputation locally for large quite aggressive hyenas- campers recently at the tourist campsite near the dunes of Sesreim had been attacked during the night when camping without tents, so we were glad to have the rock wall at our backs and the rifle which Kobus had the pleasure of carrying for most of the expedition. Aside from the incessant drone of mosquitoes and a night time rain shower the night passed uneventfully.

The pattern of the next day set the template for the others - wake up just before first light at 05.30 and get the kit packed away whilst the stove boiled water for a single cup of coffee the kick start the day and to help wash down the three rusks - a type of hard baked biscuit which constituted breakfast, and then heading out as the sun rose and cast its welcome light in the gloomy corners of the canyon.

This year wet season really was a bumper one and consequently the very high temperatures that we had been anticipating didn’t materialise and our days in the canyon followed a pattern of cloudy skies in the morning, burning off in the afternoon to give high temperatures for a couple of hours before giving way to an afternoon cloud build up and the first roll of thunder of surrounding storms in the late afternoon. Camps where selected the criteria with the having our backs protected but also affording some sort of shelter from night-time storms.

As we entered the canyon more deeply the walls close in on us and grew steadily higher and higher this had the effected of narrowing the river and we steadily lost the helpful banks being forced more and more often into the river itself - at one stage we did a two kilometre wade but we where soon presented with our biggest challenge of the expedition - quicksand. where the waters of the river where forced through narrower and narrower gaps the quicksand got deeper and deeper rising steadily up our legs, over our thighs until eventually we were stuck over our waists in a mixture of cloying sand and mud. It made movement extremely slow and tiring our hourly rate dropped to about 1.4 km an hour- at one stage seemingly completely stuck the only way to escape was to lie as flat as possible and crawl on hands and knees to the river back no mean task in a river with a heavy rucksack on our backs I can tell you!! On the second day we only managed to cover 6 kilometres completely shattering any hopes of keeping up a 30 kilometre a day rate.

Our original plan had been to scale the walls of the canyon to camp on its rim but the height of the walls – well over a kilometre tall in places just presented to much of a challenge at the end of hard days slogging through quicksand- the thought of filtering and then carrying five litres of water each on top of our already weighty packs up the steep cliffs also didn’t fill us with joy! That evening in camp Kobus and I discussed our options. The Google map (isn’t it great to able to get satellite imagery on the web) of the canyon showed the valley opening up further down its course- but we could not be sure how much would be flooded but hoped that there was a adequate river bank left to walk on- otherwise at midday on the next day we would be forced to climb out of the canyon - a challenge in itself, walk across the plains for 20 kilometres to road access at a park camping site at Zebra Pan. Whatever we decided our food would not last unless we started to ration it.The next day started with the usual narrow valley, steep cliffs and the now inevitable quicksand and Kobus and I had decided that 11 o’clock would our breakout point if we were not able to pick up hour speed but after an hour or so we got the break we needed as the valley opened up – the banks became visible and we were able to stretch our legs. The deadline passed with bearing a comment from the either of us as where now trundling our way rapidly down the valley – the canyon did narrow again and the quicksand did suck us back into its gritty folds but the joy of getting some distance under our belts has reassured us significantly and as the day went on the widening became more and more frequent. The day end total was 28 kilometres.

We left our overnight camp – if you can call two sleeping bags under a overhanging rock a camp, and continued down the canyon now painted by the red sands of the dune sea on its south bank and they grey of the rock desert on its north side – disturbing a large troop of baboons with some massive males feeding in the valley. As the valley broadened the wildlife, especially the birdlife increased significantly with large boisterous colonies of Cape Swifts’ enlivening the canyon with their raucous calls. Two snakes where spotted- both juveniles and both lying just of our track – a Western Banded Spitting Cobra which lifted itself and opened its hood in an irritable manner and more relaxed Horned Adder.

The valley was now open and well vegetated along its banks with one of the issues now being able to find our way through the mass of fallen bands, flood debris and wild mustard stands but it allowed us to reach our end point at Homeb at 6 o’clock with tired backs, sore feet but with a massive sense of achievement.

Sometimes a plan works, sometimes it adapts, occasionally its perfection…

We took out packs off and within 15 minutes Kobus’ co worker turned up with our transport, and a cooler full of cold beer… bliss!

To find out more about adventure racing in Namibia visit our Namib Marathon page here

Laugavegur Ultra Marathon

Is a 55km footrace along the most popular hiking trail in Iceland, a route that normally takes 4 days to complete.  Now 55km doesn’t actually sound that far, as really it is just a bit more than a marathon.  Looking on the course records the warning bells started to sound as the fastest 10 finishers in 2006 took between 5:26 and 6:06 hours to complete the course.  I didn’t know quite what to expect, although I imagined it had to be tough for such slow times.  Little did I know but I was in for quite a challenge.

The first section is pretty much all uphill along rocky paths, past steaming volcanic vents, multi coloured mountains, sections of ice and deep snow, scree and volcanic sand.  For the first 20km you don’t actually realise how tough it is as you are blown away by the scenery and surrounding mountains and glaciers.  The climbs and descents are brutal.  It can be too easy to get carried away and push too hard on this section only to suffer much later in the race.  I had a look on the course profile and it seemed that after the steep ascent on the first leg, it was pretty much downhill until the finish.  It came as a bit of a shock that the long downhill sections I was hoping to open up on never really materialised and I found myself running steep ascents and descents for pretty much the rest of the race.

The second section of the race drops down from the mountains towards a vast lake and you really are treated to some spectacular vistas.  The terrain here is a little tricky underfoot with narrow rocky paths, scree and steep descents that hammer your knees.  But the time I reached the half way point I was beginning to wonder how my legs would hold out.  Luckily there are a few long sections here on gravel roads that allow a brief recovery before the going gets tough again. 

The rest of the race for me was a bit of a blur as I zoned out using all my mental effort to force myself to keep running.  Lots of up and downs, waterfalls, and ice cold glacial river crossings that actually came as welcome relief as it numbed my painful legs.  The final river crossing involves a rope guide rail and from there a short run through the woods leads to the finish line, a hug from the race organisers, a warm blanket and a BBQ.  I can just remember feeling a huge sense of relief that it was all over and I had made it.

As long as I forget the pain, this has to be the most beautiful run I have ever had.  It is tough without a doubt, a proper trail run with a real variety of terrain that makes it quite difficult under foot for the majority of the course.  The race still has a very local feel to it, with only a handful of international runners.  It has a real mixture of racing snakes and people who just to finish the damn thing.  I have never seen so many smiling and happy runners during a race.  I loved it and thoroughly recommend it for 2008.  

Steve Clark, Iceland 2007

• Find out more about the Laugavegur Marathon
• Sign up for the race