Desert Races
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Desert Races
The 2012 SANGONeT “No Pain No Gain Campaign” will cover three desert races on three continents. David Barnard will cover approximately 750km, running through sand and snow, in some of the toughest and most extreme places on the planet.
# Namib Desert Challenge, Namibia, 26-30 March 2012
The first desert race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be Namib Desert Challenge in Namibia. Now in its fourth year, this five-day, 220km extreme endurance footrace aims to test the physical and mental limits of the competitors. The race and is held in the Namib-Naukluft National Park which encompasses part of the Namib Desert, considered the world's oldest desert, and the Naukluft mountain range. The Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world and offers some of the most remote, diverse, pristine and untouched wilderness areas to be found anywhere on earth. The race is held in parts of the park often inaccessible to the general public, and competitors will be confronted with extreme heat, rugged terrain, rocky mountains, the famous Sesriem Canyon, and finally, having to summit two of the highest dunes in the world, namely Dune 45 and “Big Daddy”.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.namibdesertchallenge.com.
# Gobi March, China, 10-16 June 2012
The second desert race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be the Gobi March in China. The Gobi Desert is the largest desert region in Asia and the fifth largest in the world. It is also the windiest non-polar desert in the world. The climate varies greatly depending on the specific location due to the topography. The area annually experiences temperatures of up to 40oC in the summer and has been known to drop to -24.4o C in the winter whilst receiving only 27mm of rainfall annually. The 250km, seven-day Gobi March will start near a very small place called Gazi Village and end in Upal. The course will take competitors past Shipton’s Arch, locally known as Heaven’s Gate, a natural arch which is taller than the Empire State Building. The area selected for the 2012 Gobi March has been closely guarded by the Chinese government due to its border position and distance from Beijing and as a result there have been very few outsiders freely exploring the area.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.4deserts.com/gobimarch.
# The Last Desert, Antarctica, 16-22 November 2012
The third and final race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be The Last Desert in Antarctica. This will be the 5th edition of the event and remains the only multi-day stage race on the Antarctic continent. The starting point for The Last Desert 2012 is Ushuaia, at the very bottom of Argentina. Competitors will board the expedition ship, the Antarctic Dream, to sail across the Drake Passage to several locations in Antarctica. The terrain will be largely snow which will vary in depth from just a few centimetres to a meter deep. Temperatures on the course could reach as low as -20°C.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.4deserts.com/thelastdesert.
The Gobi March and Last Desert races form part of the 4 Deserts series, a unique collection of endurance footraces that take place over seven days and 250km in the largest and most forbidding deserts on the planet. Competitors are challenged to go beyond the limits of their physical and mental endurance. Racing self-supported in the most inhospitable climates and formidable landscapes, they must carry all their own equipment and food and are only provided with drinking water and a place in a tent each night to rest.
The series, named again by TIME magazine in 2010 as one of the world's Top 10 endurance competitions, comprises the Atacama Crossing in Chile, the Gobi March in China, the Sahara Race in Egypt and The Last Desert in Antarctica.
David completed the Sahara Race in 2011.
# Namib Desert Challenge, Namibia, 26-30 March 2012
The first desert race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be Namib Desert Challenge in Namibia. Now in its fourth year, this five-day, 220km extreme endurance footrace aims to test the physical and mental limits of the competitors. The race and is held in the Namib-Naukluft National Park which encompasses part of the Namib Desert, considered the world's oldest desert, and the Naukluft mountain range. The Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world and offers some of the most remote, diverse, pristine and untouched wilderness areas to be found anywhere on earth. The race is held in parts of the park often inaccessible to the general public, and competitors will be confronted with extreme heat, rugged terrain, rocky mountains, the famous Sesriem Canyon, and finally, having to summit two of the highest dunes in the world, namely Dune 45 and “Big Daddy”.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.namibdesertchallenge.com.
# Gobi March, China, 10-16 June 2012
The second desert race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be the Gobi March in China. The Gobi Desert is the largest desert region in Asia and the fifth largest in the world. It is also the windiest non-polar desert in the world. The climate varies greatly depending on the specific location due to the topography. The area annually experiences temperatures of up to 40oC in the summer and has been known to drop to -24.4o C in the winter whilst receiving only 27mm of rainfall annually. The 250km, seven-day Gobi March will start near a very small place called Gazi Village and end in Upal. The course will take competitors past Shipton’s Arch, locally known as Heaven’s Gate, a natural arch which is taller than the Empire State Building. The area selected for the 2012 Gobi March has been closely guarded by the Chinese government due to its border position and distance from Beijing and as a result there have been very few outsiders freely exploring the area.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.4deserts.com/gobimarch.
# The Last Desert, Antarctica, 16-22 November 2012
The third and final race of the 2012 “No Pain No Gain” campaign will be The Last Desert in Antarctica. This will be the 5th edition of the event and remains the only multi-day stage race on the Antarctic continent. The starting point for The Last Desert 2012 is Ushuaia, at the very bottom of Argentina. Competitors will board the expedition ship, the Antarctic Dream, to sail across the Drake Passage to several locations in Antarctica. The terrain will be largely snow which will vary in depth from just a few centimetres to a meter deep. Temperatures on the course could reach as low as -20°C.
For more information about the race, refer to http://www.4deserts.com/thelastdesert.
The Gobi March and Last Desert races form part of the 4 Deserts series, a unique collection of endurance footraces that take place over seven days and 250km in the largest and most forbidding deserts on the planet. Competitors are challenged to go beyond the limits of their physical and mental endurance. Racing self-supported in the most inhospitable climates and formidable landscapes, they must carry all their own equipment and food and are only provided with drinking water and a place in a tent each night to rest.
The series, named again by TIME magazine in 2010 as one of the world's Top 10 endurance competitions, comprises the Atacama Crossing in Chile, the Gobi March in China, the Sahara Race in Egypt and The Last Desert in Antarctica.
David completed the Sahara Race in 2011.
