At “0-dark-30” the Tropic of Cancer Marathon basecamp was awake and silently in fully swing as participants and support teams of the inaugural TOCM were making final preparations before the race start. Actually, to call it a race is not correct. The event, organized by the famous extreme desert explorer Max Calderan, was a family, friendly event open to all outdoor enthusiasts and desert lovers irrespective of running ability. In fact, it could be argued that you need to be more of a stamina walker than a runner as much of the ascents and descents were done in walking mode rather than running mode.
There were about 70-80 participants who were supported by 18 4x4s driven by offroad driving experts from Dubai Offroaders. The DO team was phenomenal in providing the participants the much needed guidance, water, and general moral support. Hats off to our DO offroaders for their efforts; thank you! DO’s sister club Adventure Emarat fielded a strong team of event participants as well with over a dozen ladies and gents coming out to the desert, some for the very first time, to partake in this one-of-a-kind event.
The course was rather straight forward with only a few distinct lines of travel as the crow flies however, on the ground, those lines had participants zig-zagging, climbing, descending, walking, and sometimes crawling through some of the most challenging desert terrain. Runners had to shift gears from a steep climb to a steep descent in a matter of seconds then shift to cruising mode on long stretches of sabkha salt flats. The majority of the participants ran the 10km, with less running the 21km, and only a handful running the 42km & 50km. One thing is for sure, it is fair to say that the difficulty and challenge of the terrain caught most runners off guard. You cannot appreciate how difficult this is until you actually try it for the first time. From the start line we had a steep ascent on soft sand, which saw us crest the top with an immediate descent, then ascent, then descent…you get the picture. It was one dune after another of what became softer and softer sand.
This was my first time running a desert, offroad run. I learned quickly that you get no credit for the energy exerted to go vertically up and down the dunes in relation to the distance you need to cover. Had you exerted that same energy on a flat surface, the distance traveled would have been a lot further. This was a bit of a mental dilemma I needed to deal with quickly to have any hope of completing the course. It was a mind-over-body scenario and I had to push the mental stamina further than the physical stamina. There was a lot of smiling faces on the course, especially from the DO support crew; they really took it upon themselves to help lift our spirits during some difficult times. For me personally, I really warm up and get into the groove of any running event right around the 4 or 5km mark and the TOCM was no different. As I approached the 5km mark I was greeted with a refreshing shower of cool water and this definitely helped recharge the much need drain on my legs. From that point it felt as if the race was much more manageable.
There is something very enjoyable for me about running by yourself out in the wild whether it be the mountains, wadis, or desert and it is that time I have with myself to ponder why I am doing what I am doing. I must say, it is most often a very difficult and somewhat painful experience so I always seem to convince myself that I enjoy the idea of setting a very difficult bar for myself to cross. It would always be much easier to give up, jump in a support car, or simply stop but pushing on to reach over that bar is a great feeling of accomplishment and reminds you that challenges in life are not insurmountable.
I made the final turn before the last set of dunes and was feeling pretty good. I knew shortly the run would finish and I would have accomplished what I set out to do. I didn’t come first and I didn’t come last but none of that mattered. The best thing about the whole event was the whole event. I was surrounding by many of my good friends from Dubai Offroaders and many of my good friends from Adventure Emarat and many of my new friends from the Tropic of Cancer Marathon. Every person that was on the sand that day contributed to make the event as great as it was. It was a huge accomplishment for everyone and gives us great memories and anticipation for the next one!
