It's day four of the Gobi March and competitors are halfway through their 250km challenge. The race began on Saturday 27 June with 154 competitors, and out of those, 150 remain (they're all accounted for of course, its not like they've left anybody wandering about in the desert!). It's been a tough race so far, traversing grassland filled with grazing camels, scrambling over boulders, wading through rivers and crossing some unexpectedly large hills. As Ryan Dipede from Canada put it, "The course was great but the description of gently rolling hills in the course book were not so gentle."
They've lucked out with the weather so far. It's been reasonably cool but that's all expected to change from today when they were up at 2.45 a.m. to make the most of the early morning temperatures. The early start was offset a little by the relative comfort of a village (as opposed to tents) where they stayed last night, sleeping in local homes and soaking up the desert atmosphere. "I find it beautiful here. It gives us an idea of how the local people are. You can't imagine how people in the desert live. If someone blindfolded you and left you here you wouldn't have a clue where you were," said Arjan Roukema from the Netherlands, who also added, "and, of course, everyone is happy that we don't have rocks under our sleeping mats tonight."
As far as the leaderboard goes, Briton Dan Parr polished off today's 48km by 9.25 a.m. with just an 18-minute lead on Austrian Christian Scheister. It wasn't easy though, "There's patches where the sand is up to your knees. It's like dust. Coming down I felt like I needed a pair of skis" said Dan, and from Schiester, "these last ten miles were the most amazing I've ever seen." Impressive for someone who has run over 80,000km in his life, and who'll be adding more to that total over the next few days.
Regular updates, blog posts from the nutters, ahem—runners taking part, stunning photos and more at www.racingtheplanet.com.
The Gobi March is an annual, 250km footrace that takes places in the Gobi Desert over seven days. This year, it is being held in the Turpan Depression, an extremely hot, low-lying area in China's far-flung Xinjiang province. A key stop on the old Silk Road, today, the oasis town of Turpan is a popular stop for tourists to the area with its grapevine trellises and underground irrigation system providing welcome respite from the fierce heat. The best way to get to Turpan is by bus from Urumqi (2hrs) and Urumqi itself is easily accessible by plane from across China (see flight schedule here).
Other Gobi March links:
The Gobi March 2010: Racing the Planet One Desert at a Time
CT.net Interview: Stephanie Hou & Campbell Cave Prepare to March the Gobi