Checklist for the MDS, Sahara

Looking at the required equipment list is enough to make your hair stand on end, let alone the event description. What do you need when you go to the desert? What is one required, what else is recommended?

The organizer checks each participant’s rucksack and its content to the very bottom. A lack of one or more of the following items on this list can lead to disqualification. No runner is allowed to start if one of these is not in his/her rucksack:

Rucksack that holds everything you’ll need for a week. Or two small ones, one in front, one in back.

Sleeping bag – ultra light, ultra small, maybe a thin pad (the ground is hard and full of small rocks)

Head torch with spare batteries – for the night stage and in camp when the sun goes down.

10 safety pins (for the start numbers – and they can come in very handy for holding things together)

Compass (you should know how to use it too!)

Lighter for cooking, making fires, possible distress, lamp failure

Jack-knife with several functions

Disinfection fluid for wounds, treatment of blisters when on your own on the course

Snake bite set – you never know when little creepy crawlies can show up and bite

Whistle – should be very loud, for possible distress situations

Emergency mirror – also for possible distress situations

Aluminium blanket - protects from hot and cold.

2000 calories per day/14,000 calories for the entire race.

These items are given to you before the race starts. They are also mandatory:

Salt tablets – to be taken in pairs every couple of hours during the day!
Emergency flare for the night stage – only to be used in a serious distress situation
Florescent stick, also for the night stage

The minimum accepted weight is 6,5 kg, the highest is 15 kg. no one gets by with 6.5, but 15 is absolutely too much. Rucksacks can be and are controlled at any point in time during any stage. Anyone caught without the mandatory equipment/required calories for the remainder of the race can be disqualified.