Fartleks & Flatulence by Berridge David

Author:Berridge, David [Berridge, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David Berridge
Published: 2014-04-21T21:00:00+00:00

WHAT NEXT!

ATACAMA CROSSING 2009

What is it: Multi-stage, self-sufficient desert race

When: March 2009

Where: Chile

Distance: 250km (155 miles)

It is: Tough, the altitude, heat and cold make it hard

See: racingtheplanet.com

I have been looking forward to this race for some time. It’s a race that I’d had in mind to do for a few years - it was to be all the more enjoyable because my wife was to join me. Marilyn has run several marathons and enjoyed them. That’s not strictly true, she’s enjoyed finishing them. I think curiosity had got the better of her after seeing this race on the TV. She needed to see for herself what all the fuss was about: why I always wanted to go and have a go at some ridiculous race or other (it’s a fair question and one for which I still had no answer). I was just pleased that she was coming and I secretly/selfishly hoped that, like me, she would get the bug and want to do more.

The Atacama Crossing is a 250km long race across the Atacama Desert in Chile. It is held annually and uses the same format as the Marathon Des Sables - several stages with one long stage taking you through the night.

We flew to Santiago, Chile’s capital via Madrid. We then had a short internal flight finally arriving at our hotel very nearly 40 hours after we had left home.

The Hotel Altiplanco was stunning, very beautiful and very peaceful, surrounded as it was by snow-capped peaks. The small town of San Pedro de Atacama was only a short walk away. It seemed very busy and bustling full of little shops catering for tourists wanting to explore the surrounding area. We walked around doing our own exploring and made our way to the race headquarters, located in another hotel. On returning to our hotel we noticed that we had both got a touch of sunburn. We were at altitude and I should have realised, it was annoying but not serious.

The next day it was back to race HQ for all the administration, equipment checks, medicals and the obligatory rucksack-weighing. Mine was 11 kgs and I thought that was heavy but someone had a rucksack weighing l5kgs. Marilyn’s was 9kgs. The following day, after a hearty breakfast, we made our way back to the race HQ to board the coaches that would take us to the start. The start line was apparently way up into the mountains and would be at an altitude of a little over 3000 meters. On arriving at the campsite in the Arcoiris Valley, it was freezing - gloves hats, fleeces and anything else was put on. We were then shown to our tent, unlike other races this tent was named and to be used by those allocated to it for the duration of the race.

One Italian, two Danes, one American and three English. There was supposed to be a Japanese guy but he never made it (but it did give us a little more room).

After

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