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Moreton Island Epic Adventure – 90 km of Sand

By 26 December 2019December 29th, 2019General

I am planning to run Marathon de Sables (MDS) in April 2021, a 6 day desert run in the Sahara. To prepare I plan to have a couple of training runs on Morton Island to test kit and familiarize myself with sand running. Two months ago I mentioned my plans to some friends. I can’t recall who, but some wise guy suggested we should run around it, we all laughed. What a ridiculous idea!

Two days later after a few Facebook chats, Andrew Gills & I had a date locked in for an unsupported run around the island on the 23rd/24th December.

Initial plans included a 4×4 support vehicle, a larger group, carry packs for water and fuel between stops. After some discussion and some pulling out due to season commitments we decided to go unsupported as water was available about every 25 km. I was also keen to run with self supporting kit to emulate MDS. We had planned bail out points through to 65 km, after that it would be night, and with no 4×4 holiday traffic, we would be on our own.

Andrew was off to New Zealand for a hiking trip returning the day before our epic adventure. Over the last week I finalised plans, pulled together the logistics including food, first aid, kit and a final review of the expected terrain. Most was pulled from race reports of MDS finishers. My final pack weight was 4.5 kg without water. Water would be 2.5 litres adding up to 7 kg,

Going in both Andrew and I had strengths and weaknesses. Neither of us were truly ready. We know there was a big chance of failure. Both of us were capable of completing the challenge if it was possible and sensible enough to pull the pin if it went wrong.

Andrew went in with good leg stength, he has been doing the strength work with a good volume of multi terrain running, those who follow him know he has been doing lots of burpies. Andrew’s weakness was a lack of base, having only been back into distance running for under 2 years, his aerobic fitness is still developing.

I was coming of a 4 month layoff, my strength was down, but having years of base, aerobic fitness was not a concern. 12 days out I tweaked my calf running so went in without any running on untested legs.

There are two photo’s. One at the start, one at the end. In both Andrew looks upbeat, while I look serious. I was not happy about these initially, but accurately reflect my state of mind on each occasion. Concern at the beginning, absolute exhaustion at the end.

We began at 8:30 am as peers on a shared adventure. We joked that by the end we would be life long mates, or would not want to see each other ever again! Time would tell.

The day before I recorded how I thought it would play out, looking back at it I clearly did not expect it to be such a challenge.

https://www.facebook.com/pskelton1962/videos/10221879786683270/

The first 14 km were great. Semi hard shore line sand, Osprey in the sky, rays in the shallows, we settled into a walk jog routine. Spirits were high, “We are doing this!”. At 14km the mangroves took the shoreline forcing us onto the 4×4 tracks.

4×4 tracks are soft sand, on a sand island the only hard surfaces are on the shoreline below the high water and man made roads which are in the Tangalooma resort and a 200m track up the Cape Morton headland. The rest is soft.

We were stuck on the soft track for the next 11 km through Kooringal to the southern point of the island. The going was tough and unexpected as we had thought we would be on firmish sand through to 35km. It was a huge relief to hit the beach at the southern point. I even did a dance of joy, and I don’t dance! We now had about 2 hours of firm sand before the tide would push us up the beach.

We jogged and walked through to our water stop at Rous Battery (36km). We found Wilson! A red and white buoy on the beach, both calling out in unison when we spotted him. We had to navigate through some timber debris by wading through the shallows. An event that would plague us later due to sand and water getting in our shoes. Mine was not too bad as I had gaiters, Andrew was not so lucky.

At the 36km mark we both knew this was going to be tougher that expected and were borderline on pulling out at our first planned exit point. Fortunately we did not share this with each other. Andrew’s feet were blistered already, mine were frail. We regrouped, entertained by some 4x4ers trying, but failing to navigate a sand track climb.

On leaving Rous Battery we agreed we would walk the 25 km to the light house, the tide was up, we were shattered. A quick calculation showed we could still get the fastest known time (FKT) with a tidy walk.

At around 40 km I slipped into a low, everything ached. The constant sand had taken a big toll, My legs were simply not strong enough for the journey. Andrew had found his happy switch. Perfect timing! He talked the house down, he talked to keep his mind off his feet, I listened to keep my mind off my aching legs. It worked.

At 50km we stopped at Eager beach for water. A quick chat with a camper filling up his camps water supply. As we left he wished us luck and re-enforced we really needed it! He clearly thought we were nuts!

It soon got dark, stars were out, the light house was flashing, a great navigation beacon so no headlamps required. We were entertained by jelly fish. When we stepped on the beached jellies they lit up like a spray of a leaky glow stick, luminous green and blue sparkles under foot much like the graphics in the movie “Life Of Pi”. Then the waves started lighting up too, as a roller hit a group of jellies there was an explosion of colour, naturally created fireworks. Spectacular!

We hit Cape Morton and the lighthouse at 61 km. It is a headland and the only climb on our journey. The sign post said 20% incline! We were dreading it. Half way up we were laughing, the ground was covered by mats to enable 4x4s to drive up. To us it was the easiest 200 meters of the journey due to the solid surface! Down the other side and into the North beach camp for a short break and a top-up of water. We also got a mobile signal for the first time in 9 hours. A call home to Mair gave me that reboot I needed. We could not rest as we needed to make a low tide crossing of the heath island creek, a crossing I had sleepless nights about in the lead up. It was dark, only headlamps, 50 m vision, 100 meter crossing!

We made the crossing at 11 pm and took our first sleep break, only 10 min sleep, a short dream, an alarm, and we were off only to run into another creek then another! the 4th was the biggest, and probably the true creek. We were knee deep for 80m or so! I recalled telling Andrew earlier that Tiger Sharks hunt Rays in the shallows, but kept it to myself 😉

Soon after the last creek we hit the north west point and took another break. We were now taking a 2 min break every 5 km. Andrew was napping, I was awake, keen to get it done.

At 75 km Andrew hit a low. Nausea, pain from blisters, a deep need for sleep, he was crashing, I had serious concerns about him finishing. I had to make some calls, keep urging him on with 2 km breaks or calling quits on the 24 hour goal and allowing him to sleep. I chose to “softly” urge him after a 2 min break each kilometer.

Then we heard Kookaburras, 15 min to sunrise. Daylight came, we saw the tiger shark fishing in the shallows, fish jumping, dolphins, birds. Nature was giving us the lift we needed to get it done.

For the km 75 to 87 km I was the stalwart, the motivator. We reached the wrecks and 3 km to go, and I crashed! I had nothing, mind gone and all I could do was resort to mechanical motions to get one foot in front of the other. Fortunately Andrew was coming alive, just a little, but enough to keep urging me forward! We trudged out the last 3 km at 20 min per km. Walkers from the resort skipped past us, we must have looked like zombies or some very lost middle aged men.

20 Meters from the pier Andrew led me up the beach onto the soft sand, I was cursing. 10 meters to go and I still did not know how I was going to get there! Andrew waited for me and we reached out for the pier, the finish, together. We were done! 21h 49m 46s! 90km

Certainly the toughest endurance challenge I have completed. My assessment on myself, aerobic fitness – great, metabolic fitness – great, mindset – great, fatigue resilience – good, muscular endurance – ordinary.

A huge thank you to Andrew, you were fantastic! Resilient when you needed to be, entertaining when I was down, strong throughout, always positive, no whinging, no overthinking. We constantly swapped roles from supporter / motivator to hanging in. So proud we made it, against the odds. Good test for your BVRT 100 miler! I could not have asked for a better mate to share this adventure with.

My advice for anyone who wants to do this as a non stop, don’t, unless you are ready to suffer, that sand is the devil’s dust!

What I learnt for Marathon de Sables

Great kit:

Food consumed:

When aerobic and fat adapted we don’t need that much!

  • Lots of water approx 1 liter per 10 km into the day time, less at night. Hydralyte electrolytes in every bottle.
  • 2x Baby Food sachets (Sweet potato and fruit)
  • 2x Clif Bar
  • 100g Biltong (Jerky)
  • 100g Fruit & Nut Trail mix
  • 100g Tailwind

I took more, but the above is all I ate. In the picture the numbers are calories.

Over to Andrew for the entertaining wrap up!

Paul Skelton

Life-long endurance athlete with 20 years IRONMAN experience and 12 years of coaching. TrainingPeaks Level 2, IRONMAN Uni, WOWSA Level 3, Triathlon Australia, and Primal Health accredited Coach. Active adventure-focused athlete of 14 IRONMANs, Kona Qualifier, Ultraman, Comrades and Ultra swim finisher.