The Namib Desert Challenge is a 5 day 220km run though the Sossosvlei Desert in Namibia, held on March 27-31. After arriving and spending the night in the capital Windhoek, all 42 competitors were picked up by bus and transported to the Sossosvlei. It seems it wasn’t just Australia that has been hit by rain recently, with Namibia also receiving a belting, especially heavy on the day I landed. Our bus tried to cross a washed out road and got bogged, forcing us to wait 2 hours for a suitably sized tow truck to come to the rescue. All that rain did have a bright side though, with the red desert now covered with grass providing quite the contrast and something very rarely seen in the Sossosvlei. After a quick briefing and pre race feast, we settled into our first camp which contained flush toilets, showers and a pool. What luxury. This race seemed like it was going to be a fair bit more enjoyable than similar multi day stage running events I have done. You still had to carry all your own kit, but you could leave your sleeping gear with the organizers and only had to carry 1 days worth of food, collecting your prepacked daily rations each night at camp. Too many of these races seem to thrive on making you suffer for the sake of it, making you carry everything, rationing your water in 40+ degrees, making you sleep in crappy tents which barely keep out the wind and sand and scorpions.
Photo by David Montgomery
The first 3 days were similar distances, between 40-44km, day 4 was 56km and the final day a shorter 28km, with manned checkpoints every 10-15km where you could get water and some food. All of the recent rains had also brought humidity and I found myself sweating heavily from the beginning each morning. This would be the norm over the next week, humid and overcast in the morning, then by mid morning the sun would burn off the clouds with the sun out the temperature would rise in excess 40 degrees. The trails were mainly jeep tracks, sand dunes (including the longest in the world at 27km), some highway verge, and some unmarked open crossings across the desert guided by natural landmarks. These were my favorite sections, choosing your own route across the grasslands. The course was generally well marked but there were some nervous moments when I took wrong turns. Wildlife encounters were frequent, with herds of springboks, oryx, numerous ostriches, and jackals, and I even managed to surprise a hyena and chased it for a while. By the end of day 3, I was in first place with about an hour to the second placed Graham Booty from England. This was a similar position to when I raced in the Atacama Crossing in Chile in 2009, where I had a 1 hour lead after day 2, only to blow it and end up finishing fourth so I wasn’t about to ease up just yet. That race was complicated for me by vomiting and severe nausea brought on by kidney failure. I was pretty nervous pre-NDC that something similar was going to happen this time, but I was still feeling great and looking after myself, drinking heaps, peeing heaps (with no blood) and taking loads of my favorite Shotz Electrolyte tabs so I was confident I could hang on.
Photo by David Montgomery
Day 4 started with a neat canyon section which involved some swimming which cooled things down and the wet clothing provided some relief from the heat for the next hour until we dried out, and then it was a stinker. This was the longest day at 56 km, and meant I had to suffer the full heat of the day for an extended period. The final 10km was alongside the highway, into a dirty headwind which dried you out and my water was running low. Finally I could make out the finish several km’s away, but it seemed to take forever to make it to the final CP. Unfortunately it wasn’t over yet, we had to climb up Dune 45, touch the summit flag and then run back down again. The mood in camp afterwards was one of relieved excitement as competitors came in knowing the race was almost over and they had survived – all that remained to conquer was Big Daddy, at 325m high, one of the biggest sand dunes in the world.
Photo by David Montgomery
After winning all 4 days so far, I was keen to make it a clean sweep so at the start of the last day I took off ahead of the others and arrived at the base of Big Daddy after about 20km’s. Gary Burrows, race Director, showed me the route to take and pointed out Karl, a volunteer, who was halfway up carrying a flag to the summit from which we were supposed to take our name tag off to prove we made it. I passed Karl with about a third remaining and really started to struggle. Having to break the trail through the soft sand myself, my pace slowed and I looked back to see Booty and Wayde catching me. Cresting the summit, I made sure I walked all over the top to prove I was there as Karl was out of sight. Our map then had us descending the dune to a salt pan and the next CP, which we should have been able to see. Unfortunately I could not see anyone or a CP and was hesitant to run down in case I dropped off the wrong side as it would take me an hour to climb back up. Double checking the map (which consisted of aerial photographs with CP’s marked and a route line) to be sure, I set off for the most fun of the race, a 325m descent down the steepest sand dune I have run, with fingers crossed that I was going in the right direction. The sand was the perfect consistency to bound down, sinking and sliding with each step. I made it to the bottom before the next guys started the descent and constantly looked over my shoulder as I ran across the salt pan, until I saw the others had followed my path. Eventually I found the support crew, hidden at the other end of the salt pan, where I was given my final water and told there was 2kms to go. That was it, I was going to make it and I enjoyed the final run in to the finish line where I was greeted with a cold beer.
Photo by David Montgomery
I finished in first place, in 19hrs. Graham Booty from England was second and Wayde Kennedy from South Africa in third. Linda Doke from South Africa, was the first lady and finished 4th overall. It was a sensational race, where we raced hard and suffered during the day, but had comfy tents and pools to recover in afterwards. The wildlife, African scenery, bush camps and sunsets should ensure this race grows from the 42 competitors this year. Big thanks to Gary Burrows and Terence Southam from Kinetic Events for organizing the event and all the other volunteers and competitors for making it so enjoyable, especially those who suffered blisters and gave us so much entertainment as we watched them being treated each night. Thanks again to Shotz Sports Nutrition for supplying me with Electrolyte Tabs and gels which kept me going every day, Blackheart and Salomon for the best trail running gear, and Aussie Butt cream for keeping me chaff free. I luckily did not get any blisters and the only inconvenience I suffered was some chaffing from wearing wet shorts around the pool all afternoon!
For more info, check out
http://www.namibdesertchallenge.com/
Having not really prepared for running off the bike I knew the next 15km run on the Yarra Trail was going to be interesting. That is was, as the legs felt like jelly, and feet like ice blocks with the cool temperatures on the bike. I ran this leg like I was pushing the upper age limits of the Vintage category, even stopping at a public toilet on the way. Fleur on the other hand, after a few early wobbles said she would have been happy running all the way to Docklands! Right-o, maybe you can do that next weekend! 
Fleur too had a fun paddle despite also assisting with the dredging of the river with her rudder! She even made friends with a fellow competitor enough for him to stop and help clear her rudder. Fleur finished just as the sun was setting at 6.01pm in 15th place.