Day 7, Charity / Solidarity Stage.

Our group of tent mates walked the 4 mile stage together (as most do) through some impressive dunes, the Mezouga sand dunes. Onto the buses & a 5 hour drive to the hotel.
It's a luxury hotel & living a frugal existence for the last 7 to 9 days really makes you appreciate decent beds, bathrooms, food & cold beer.
When we stopped to eat our packed lunches at the side of the road during the bus journey, the locals who we gave our excess food to looked like they really needed & appreciated it. It made us realise how lucky we are. I talked to the 71 year ild Brit. Mahmet who was the last in at 34 hours on the long stage (day 4). He was sadly timed out just before the finish on day 6, but I found him an inspiration.
Many thanks to everyone for all the very welcome & supportive emails I was sent during the race. Thanks for peoples' interest in following my progress & all the very generous donations to the just giving account for Nottingham Mencap www.justgiving.com/fundraising/piratepetesdesertadventure
We're well on target for the £1000 but any further donations are very welcome.
Chilling out today before flying home tomorrow.
It's been an incredible experience on every level.
Thanks again,
Pirate Pete.

Pirate Pete's Medal Post!

MdS, Day 6

Well felt mentally and physically drained during the rest day yesterday, but picked up after a bit of food and sleep (not enough).

I thought that today at a marathon distance, 26 miles may be a bit harder than most of us were expecting.

The wind was blowing a minor sand storm at the start, which I was a bit late for.

So I joined the lone crazy competitor with his air guitar solo to Highway to Hell on the start line after all te others had left.

It only took a minute to catch up with the tail enders.Including the 72 year old Brit. who was last back into camp yesterday,after 35 hours on the course during the long day(s).Inspirational.

Well just when you thing the MdS has finished spanking you, there's a slight lull, then it carries on.A head/side wind for most of the day killed me. It dropped early pm in the sand dunes then picked up for the long flat end of the day.The Jolly Rodger was flying off my trekking poles as I crossed the line to get my medal.

Got the 4 mile charity stage tomorrow.

Pete's report of that last stage!

MdS, Day 4 & 5!

What a day and night and....... morning. It was the long day, which we all pay our entry fees for. 51 miles and an 8.30am  start. I decided to push on a little early on before it got too hot, still walking. By midday the eat was intense & I only had one pace. Around 2pm I'd chatted with Connor from N. Ireland. By 5-6pm I was still feeling low on energy I asked if we could walk and talk.

He got me to check point 4 & we decided to stop for an hour  have some snack food and sort ourselves out for a windy night; windproofs, buff, head torch  mandatory glow stick on back. We got on well and he intended to stop and sleep at CP 5, which a lot of people do. 

I advised him not to sleep and we'd stop again, this time for hot food then push onto the finish, as it's very difficult to get going again when you sleep. We went through the night together across the dunes and as we left CP7, the last one the sun began to rise. A very long 6 mies to the finish. 

A long, very hard day. Connor's first ultra!         

Pirate Pete's fourth stage.

This article is posted on behalf of Pete as he warned that stage four was a long one........... and he may not get chance to up date!

So, he was seen this morning  on live camera to cross the line waving a Pirate flag with a big grin after a gruelling 20 hours 56 min 15 seconds!

The evidence is shown!

Pirate Petes third stage report

Marathon des Sables, Day 3.

Oh what a night! We'd been asleep 2 hours when at 11pm a sand storm hit camp flattening tents & sending peoples' gear out of sight, into the night. 

One lad in our tent got hit on the hand by a large iron tent peg, but luckily was not seriously hurt. Our tent was about to literally take off, or tear in two so we collapsed all the poles & slept under the coarse wool tent covering. We spent the rest of the night   with it banging & flapping on our heads.

Definitely character building.

The race started on time this am & the 21 miles included flat plains, sand dunes, jebels (rock hills / mountains) and we even went along a narrow rock ridge covered in sand. It reminded me of the ridges in the Scottish highlands, but with sand instead of snow & ice.

I felt I was going pretty well and was loving the technical rock sections, especially the sandy and rocky descents.

Unfortunately with about 4 miles to go the heat bit!  Made it in not too badly.

Tomorrow's the long one 53 mls (See below) 

XX

Pirate Petes 2nd Stage report

Day 2 on the MdS

Well all good after day 1 and no blisters (so far)

I was worried that day 1 was fairly easy and may lull us into a false sense of security. I was right!

So after yesterdays 19 miles we had  24.5 to do today and it was going to be very sandy. I walked all day and chatted to lots of different people on the way.

I deliberately started near the back of the pack and it meant I was mainly overtaking people, which was nice.

Luckily, as yesterday there was a cooling breeze for most of the day. That is until 5 or 6 hours in when the wind went and we entered a rock gulley which took us climbing over a large rock jebel (large hill). The heat was punishing.

I stopped at the top of the gulley to take some photos (not to catch my breath you understand) On the summit a one legged racer caught me up. Amazing, such drive!

Managed to make my water last. Left foot is a bit sore but no blisters and even sand skied down

Thanks to all Pete xx

Pirate Petes First Stage Post Report!

All good here!

Pirate Pete is an honourary Irish Man  for the week due to sharing a Berber tent with 6 Irishmen!

Very exciting at the start of the race with AC/DC Highway to Hell blasted out (The event theme tune), 1200 adrenalin fuelled athletes and a helicopter filming overhead as we were released into the desert.

So Stage 1. 19 Miles and an 11 kilo rucksack. The thoughts are Ive brought too much food at 3400 calories a day.
Ran a few tiny sections in the first 2 to 3 miles then walked all the way.

The heat wasnt too bad due to a pleasant breeze most of the day.

A couple of sections of sand dunes in the last third of the stage were very dry and hot and I had to force myself to slow down a bit due to getting too hot, but that seemed to work. There was no breeze there.
Had a lot of interesting conversations on the course and avoided any blisters.

All good. X

All the links to Follow Updated

Try all the links again;

If the links below don't work just paste them into your web address box.

http://piratepetesadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AplmI_G6xIQ

http://www.nottinghammencap.org.uk/

The links to follow / email me;

http://live.marathondessables.com/waatracking/en-US/mds/MDS2018

http://www.marathondessables.com/en/marathon-des-sables-maroc/write-to-a-racer

Link to Follow or email me on the MdS.

The Link to Follow or email me on the MdS.

I'm number 340 & you'll need my proper name.

http://live.marathondessables.com/waatracking/en-US/mds/MDS2018

http://www.marathondessables.com/en/marathon-des-sables-maroc/write-to-a-racer

http://live.marathondessables.com/waatracking/en-US/mds/MDS2018