The story
Marathon des Sables Legendary in Moroccan Sahara
The Marathon des Sables is a six-stage, roughly 250-kilometer ultramarathon across the Moroccan Sahara, first run in 1986 with just 23 competitors including French adventurer Patrick Bauer. Typically held around April and completed over about seven days, it demands total self-sufficiency: runners carry all their own food, gear, and survival equipment except water, which race organizers ration daily across sandstorms, extreme heat, and shifting dunes.
In 1986, a Frenchman named Patrick Bauer set out to cross part of the Sahara alone, carrying his own supplies, and came back convinced that the experience of total self-sufficiency in the desert was worth sharing.