Thursday April 4th 2002

Arriving at Gatwick in plenty of time for the midday flight I soon met up with people that I had run with on the Thames Meander and with whom I'd spoken to and emailed during the long build up. These included Richard, a Kiwi who had won the Meander and Russell, a Scot who had run with me through all of the 53 miles of the race and with whom I'd finished joint second. The only talk was of kit, weight of kit, food and training regimes, in addition to some very cagey talk about how people thought they were going to do. There were also a few crafty buggers who went for a quick pint and fag in the bar of the departure lounge.

Upon arrival at Ouazazate (pronounced 'wazazat') we duly filed through passport control and out into the bright sunlight. The first thing noticeable about Morocco, even from this relatively large town, was the contrasts of the landscape. In the distance the skyline was dominated by the snow-capped Atlas Mountains, but Ouazazate itself was bathed in glorious sunshine, with crisp clear colours and a sky such a deep blue that it could have been the ocean. The temperature was a relatively cool 32 degrees Celsius, and I heard more than one person mumbling to themselves that if this was the temperature to be expected in the desert, then the race conditions wouldn't be too bad.

After filing onto the coaches, we were driven the 10 minutes to our hotel, the Berber Meridien Palace - where the whole British contingent, in addition to some runners from a few other Commonwealth countries were staying. I must say that the standard of the hotel was a pleasant surprise, and when we sat down to dinner that night, we were treated to a real feast of dozens of cold buffet dishes and tureens of soup for starters and then a good half dozen choices of main meals, followed by desserts.; I wasn't the only one with ideas of filling my face prior to the race and the place looked like a bomb had hit it by the time 170 hungry runners had left.

I had teamed up with Richard the Kiwi to share a room and we spent the remainder of the evening re-packing and checking kit, as early the following morning we were to be driven 250km into the desert to the first bivouac site from where the race would begin.
Email Me!
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1