Meet the Bivouac

Aerial View of MDS Bivouac

Friday 4th and Saturday 5th April 2014

A group of five Irish people meet in Gatwick airport. We all know why we are there, what we have come to do. Team Eire has assembled - we are but a small part of a large contingent of British and Irish competitors, over 300 in total.

We begin with checking in our bags. The vast majority of those in the queue are wearing their race shoes, Velcro on display, some even have their gaiters on. Ahead of me stands a man who I think is Irish, but am not sure. He has a tricolour dyed into his hair, but with an English flag on the white section. I wasn't sure what to make of it but as it turned out,  he would play a significant role in my MDS.

There were 2 flights out and we were on the later flight, meaning we would arrive late into the bivouac (the MDS camp). We were still confident of getting an 'Irish' tent together when we arrived but little did we know what was awaiting us.

No Turning Back - Phil, Paul, Ann Marie, Patrick, Eoin - Team Eire

After three hours on the flight, we got sight of the Sahara, a wide and distant expanse of sand, rock and dunes - not a drop of water in sight. The thought of running through it was a little daunting at that stage and this became even more daunting when we disembarked from the plane at Errachidia Airport into the Sahara afternoon heat - everyone took a deep breath as the sun and heat hit us for the first time.

We then got to meet and shake the hand of the race director, Patrick Bauer, as we handed over our passports at the terminal. This was our welcome to the MDS and the next official meeting with Bauer is the hug you receive from him on the finish line as he presents you with your medal. This is a good image to hang on to for the days to come.

Bauer is the brains behind the 'toughest footrace on earth' having walked 350km of the Sahara in 1984 without support and with a 35kg backpack, an act that eventually led to the 1st MDS being held in 1986 with just 23 competitors. This year would see 1,029 competitors take the start line. This was very much 'his' race.

We are directed to waiting buses where we sit and wait for almost 2.5 hours before finally setting off for the bivouac at dusk. We are also given some lunch and our MDS Road Books, detailing each stage, its terrain and locations of check points where water is distributed. We all immediately turn to Stage 4, the long day. A sense of reality is felt on the bus when we read 81.5km, followed by looking at the 34km opening day involving 2 dune sections. I always thought Day 1 was more of a warm up, rather than a baptism of fire, turns out I was wrong.

I was beginning to understand the race - don't expect anything. It was a lesson that would serve me well through the week.

After another 2 hours on the bus, we arrive at the bivouac in the dark. Head torches go on and we begin to look for a tent together. We soon realise that the late flight had its disadvantages and we fail to secure a tent together. Anne Marie, Paul and Eoin take refuge with a Canadian couple and Patrick and I, with the assistance of an Athenry woman named Claire Morrissey, eventually find a tent on the outer ring.

"Are you nice?" is the question we are asked from a Scottish woman. "Yes we are" is Patrick's response and we are in. It was dark and difficult to see but we quickly become acquainted and Tent 140 took shape. Here's the who's who:

Ian Franklin - Property agent based in London. He was really the Dad of the tent.

Sian Brice - Former Olympian, Triathlon, Sydney 2000 and cycling coach based in St. Albans. I could not believe I was sharing a tent with an Olympian!

Anj Coia Bell - Scottish physio (I could not believe my luck, it was fate) based in St. Albans. Sian and Anj were mates. Anj would be my Mum for the week.

Patrick O'Toole - Architect based in Cork, Team Eire.

Phil Oakley - Coach Education Manager based in Cork. Team Eire.

Alex Pitt - Captain of Industry (family business manager) based in Brighton

Richard Ruffle - Foreign Office Agent based in Islamabad and Brighton. Richard and Alex were mates and also became known as the 'kids' of the tent despite the fact that I was the youngest.



Tent 140 - Phil, Alex, Rich, Anj, Sian, Patrick, Ian.

Initial signs were good - everyone seemed in good spirits and there was a good vibe around Tent 140. Patrick and I headed for dinner in the food tent and we both agreed we had done well on tent selection (or to be selected for the tent is more accurate), a major bonus for the week ahead.

Saturday began with getting to know some faces. We had no real opportunity in the dark to actually put faces to names and so we really met each other for the first time that morning. This was followed by breakfast at the food tent and then preparation for the medical and baggage checks that afternoon.

Meanwhile Anj and I discussed my injury issues and she suggested we do some 'cupping'. Now at this stage I only knew her for a few hours but with my injury history, i was willing to try anything to prolong my IT Band's usefulness. Cupping it turned out wasn't what I thought it was and she placed two glass 'cups' on my leg and then pumped out the air, forcing my flesh to lift into the cup, taking pressure off the IT Band. Did it work? I have no idea, but it left two fairly gruesome marks on my leg, looking as if someone had smashed a tennis ball off my leg. It looked quality.

The Results of a Bit of Cupping!

The medical and bag checks meant that once you went through them, you had no access to your main bag as you hand it over to be taken back to your hotel and with the exception of one last dinner at the food tent, you are then self sufficient.  Because of this, I queued in my race gear, as that is pretty much all I had left to wear. This was to be the start of the longest period I would ever wear the same garment for.

Temperatures were high, so for most of the day we lay in the tent (tent is not quite the right description, essentially it was a 2 sided shelter from the sun with a thin rug on the ground over the gravels of the desert floor) waiting for the queue to reduce before joining the line.

It was whilst queueing for the bag checks that I met Niall Murphy. Niall, as it turned out, was in my brother's year in the secondary school I had attended and had gone to UCC (where I went to university) to become a doctor and he now lived in London. The crossover in people we knew was endless. Niall had been on the earlier flight and when he spotted the man with the tricolour/English flag in his hair. "Come here to me, what's the shtory with the hair?" says Niall in a Sminky Short kind of way (see below). Turns out Daniel is from Killiney, based in the UK and dyed his hair based on the financial support he received for his charity. It was a close one but the Irish vote just shaded it, but because it had been so close he also had the English flag put on. A noble effort given the circumstances.

           

The medical checks were straightforward, quick look at my forms, a more detailed analysis of my ECG and the distribution of salt tablets and directions on how to use them. I had read a lot about these tablets and whether or not you should take them - the doctors are there for a reason and if they advise you should take them, then take them. We were also given our race tags and our flares.




All Smiles For Alan After Bag And Medical Checks - Alan (My Passport Name) No. 752 

Next up was a race briefing from Patrick Bauer. This included a demonstration from a 'local' underage sand rugby team (there was nothing local about where we were at the time), a demonstration on how to use the flare and a welcoming to all the competitors from 42 nations including a Korean model and actors Bertie Portal (The King's Speech), Mark Lewis Jones and Richard Harrington (none of whom I had ever heard of)!

Most comical was the demonstration on how to use the toilets - the toilets were small plastic seat like structures with a hole in them. They were constructed in sets of 3 around the bivouac's outer ring of tents and separated into little cubicles using signage banners. You brought along a plastic bag known as the "sac-a-caca" and installed it over the plastic seat before doing your business and disposing of the bag in the bin outside the door once finished. The bins were then emptied regularly to avoid odours. It was a good system but there was a reluctance to use them as avoiding stomach issues is crucial during a week like this, so my plan was to use the bushes in the desert when I could and only use the toilets as a last resort. The tent agreed to ensure we were anal (ha!) about cleaning our hands entering the tent using disinfectant gel, even if you were just out and about. The system worked well for the week.

The Sweeper Camels - You Hope You Do Not See These Guys During The Race Or Your Race Is Over

One final meal in the food tent that night (including a glass of wine!) and that was it, no turning back. The sun went down and when it came up, that was it. The MDS, something I had been planning for over 3 years, was now a reality. As we settled in to sleep that night I had one last read over my Road Book for Stage 1 and with a deep breath I turned over and fell asleep.   

The Start Line Set Up for Stage 1 - Note the Dunes in the Background