More detail about Steve's run across the Sahara

MARATHON DES SABLE

*240km through the Sahara Desert
*They say it's one of the toughest foot races on earth.
*You carry all your own food and get 9litres of water per day.
*My overall ranking was 179th of 731 starters with an aggregate time of 34hrs 50min.
*The race winner, Lahcen Ahansal of Morocco, won his 8th consecutive race in a time of 17hr 14min (Freak)
*146 competitors withdrew from the race. This was the toughest MDS on record. Only 46 withdrew in 2005 and a mere 34 in 2004.
*I lost 4-5kg over the 7 days
*I started the race with a pack weighing over 10.5kg. Including 1.5L of water, I was carrying almost 12kg on the first day.
*I stopped at only a few Check Points throughout the entire race. It was a huge physiological boost to pass on average about 20 runners at each Check Point who were either looking after the feet or grabbing a bit of shade getting organised oe resting up for the next leg.
*62 competitors were administered with IVs (drips) - a record.
*An Irish competitor, John Cahill, was repatriated to a hospital in France after collapsing from hypothermia on Day 3. He spent several days in a coma but word is that he’s on the mend and doing well. 2 others fell into coma's but were revived and stabilized without repatriation.
*The 3 Japanese models/actresses were very tough. They all made it.