Mauritanienne 200 Race by Cassandra Davis - Time-to-Run - women's on-line running information


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	Mauritanienne 200 Race by Cassandra Davis

What would make a women participate in a desert race in 48°C of heat covering 200km in her own company? Cassandra Davis the Time-to-Run's Women's Editor describes her long slog to victory in the 1st edition of the extreme desert event Mauritanienne 200 which she completed in 58 hours in March 2003.

Running in the desert for me is a cathartic experience. With three children and a full-time job, every now and again I deserve a break on my own and feel the need to give myself an ultimate challenge. As an ex-international athlete I am no longer able to achieve the times I used to run on the roads, so running marathons and road races have little appeal. Having never run longer than 100km in one go, the concept of 200km in one stage in the desert really attracted me. So I enrolled myself in the 1st edition of the Maurintanienne 200 race across the Mauritanian desert. One month before departure I pulled a hamstring which resulted in nearly three weeks rest, so naturally the week before I was feeling very edgy and wondered what I was thinking when I decided to enter into the race.

Fly out of Paris
I left Sunday 9 March, on a daytime charter flight from Paris. This was nice, as the plane flew fairly low, and in crystal clear weather conditions so that I could take in all the landscapes from the Pyranees to the start of the endless desert from Morocco down.

We landed in Atar, in Mauritania which itself is in the middle of the desert, no buildings are at all visible from the sky, just huts. The landing strip has electric light bulbs crudely strewn together with the electrical wire over the ground (of course it has not rained here in 3 years so this is not a problem) and electricity it seems is only the luxury for those with private generators.

In the airport building, I was immediately solicited by a raving person repeating over and over again that he represented the only ligitimate bank in Mauritania for changing money. I changed a 10 euro bank note and received about four dirty bills in exchange including one which was in half and stuck together back-to-front. I said I wanted another clean note, but he already had my 10 euros confiscated and was not in the least bit interested. I was thereafter reassured, when I saw that this was the normal state of the money bills in this country.


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The drive from hell
We then got escorted to a big open truck outside which had old airline seats with the cloud patterns still discernable on them placed inside. The first taste of the heat was quite a shock, 4pm and 46°C. The truck took off and we immediately got a first mouthful of dust and sand. The truck belted along the poorly conditioned roads and when suddenly we got to a road deviation, which was diversion into a ditch, the truck didn't seem to slow down at all, of course the airline seats had long lost their seatbelts, so I was hanging on for dear life as the thing swerved into the ditch.

Auberge
We arrived at an Auberge, and everywhere signs straight out of Tin Tin with curious variations of French spelling "" and very funny sign "proche de la ville mais loin de son stress" (Close to the town but far from its stress)!

The beauty of the Desert This was very simple rustic accommodation, little collective huts for sleeping and two big tents (beautifully embroideredpatchwork on them) with mats. These served as shaded relaxation areas or alternate restaurants. Two loos and two showers, with hot water only on tap 24/24 heated to the outside temperature! No fridges. We were immediately seated down to a welcome meal.

In Mauritania there is only one course, which is served in a deep enameled style dog bowl consisting either of couscous/pasta or rice with the same vegetable sauce and if your luck is in, a piece of meat/chicken might be floating therein. They also serve round pita bread which I witnessed the fabrication for after the race: two women in one tiny hut with two clay ovens for which they continually collect sticks to fire them. Inside it is like putting your head in a furnace, they bake up to 150 breads per day depending on the demand, it was very impressive.

Monday was spent doing the bag control checks, making sure we had all the necessary compulsory survival kit, checking the medical files and another medical check by the medical team. Also handing over of our food bags for the different Check Points (Check Points were every 20km along the course consting of a tent manned by one French organizer and one Mauritanian local, with hot water available for food preparation and mats for napping) .

The race : continue

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