731--Day 1 (Should have been Day 2!!!)

Greetings from the desert. After biblical floods on Friday and Saturday Day 1 of this year's MdS was cancelled and the organisers frantically sought a safe route and a dry bivi. They found one and we commenced Day 1 at the start point for day 2, at the foot of the Erg Chebbi and Erg Merzouga dunes, the largest in Morocco. We've both finished fine and strong and in a time that I think we are happy with. Legs hurt a bit, minor blisters and sore back, but nothing else. Packs weigh far too much, again!!

Off again tomorrow on what sounds like a circular route as the bivi is not being moved (now that they've found a dry spot!) We have no more ionformation than that, which has been a theme since Friday while we hung round in a hotel in Erfud waiting for news. Weather today has been hot and we've had no time to aclimatise as we have been taken from the hotel (in a cab as they didn't organise enough buses) and straight off, when we should now be spending our third night in the bivi.

-----------------------------
N'utilisez pas la fonction "REPONDRE", l'envoi de message se fait uniquement par le Site Web Darbaroud.com !!! MERCI
ATLANTIDE ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE
-----------------------------
Don't use "REPLY TO", mails are only sent via the Darbaroud.com Website !!!THANKS
ATLANTIDE ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE

The eve before....

Its now 0140hrs and we leave in less than 7 hours.  Its taken all day to bag up the food, carefully weighing out the porridge oats/milk powder/sugar mixture for each breakfast and ensuring the right mix of midget gems/sports mix/skittles for each day!!  The pile looks incredibly large and unlikely to fit in the race sacks, so we've packed it all in suitcases and we'll worry about it on Saturday morning.

No going back now.......

Agamemnon

Well, less than 24 hours to departure and the butterflies are in full flow. We think we've got all the kit together, but who knows. Paul managed to leave getting his medical clearance until the last minute, clown, whereas Mike with the dodgy ticker got signed off no problem!!

Sponsorship continues to come in slowly and Mike can't find the time to get the website up....it may have to wait until we return.

The organisers will have a facility to allow people to email us during the event and to follow our "progress". This probably won't be live until the 28th and can be found somewhere on the following link;

http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

or perhaps by linking through;
http://www.saharamarathon.co.uk/index.html


Look for
"écrire aux concurrents/write to competitors".

You will need our race numbers - Paul 730, Mike 731

Don't forget our sponsorship page:

http://www.justgiving.com/teamodyssey-cancerresearch

Off we go,

Team Rudd