100-mile desert marathon runner finishes in top three
A RUNNER familiar with pounding the cold, wet streets of South Wales competed in a gruelling 100-mile desert marathon in the Middle East – and came third.
Karen Day, 29, who lives and works in Dubai as a content editor, had to train in heat of 42°C across sand dunes and mountains to take part in the Oman Desert Marathon 2018, a sixday stage race covering 165km.
The course, made up of 90% sand, covers some of the most remote and untouched sands and highest dunes in the Oman Desert, starting from the Oasis of Bidya to the Arabian Sea.
Runners have to complete between 26km to 28km a day, running three to five hours at a time, with one stage of 42km completed in darkness at night.
They also have to take enough food for the trip in backpacks, carrying it along the route.
But this year was even more of a challenge for those competing, when temperatures hit more than 42°C in the shade. Normally the race hits temperatures in the mid-20s.
For Karen, who is from Blackwood, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I’ve always been into my running since I was 16,” she said. “But it was road running growing up in Wales where it’s cold and wet.
“I came to the UAE two years ago and got into trail running.
“You have to be sensible about it and go early in the morning so you can catch some good trails.”
After her friends decided to enter the competition in Oman, Karen joined in.
Training for four months for her “hobby”, Karen put in as much preparation as she could.
But running over sand dunes meant it was tough physically and mentally.
“On sand dunes, running is a lot longer because it’s so hard,” she said. “The effort level when you run on sand is more. It’s so hard on the legs.
“And the temperatures were really abnormal for this time of year. Our weather is normally 17-22°C in the day. We never expected it to be like this in Oman. It changed everyone’s game.
“We’ve been training in this terrain but a lot of people from around the world haven’t.
“You have to have very grippy shoes and sand gaiters. You don’t want to be there taking your shoes off.
“When you walk you have more ground contact and the heat creates friction so people were covered in blisters, so you have to keep moving.”
Despite the conditions, Karen – who was the only Welsh person in the race – came third in the female category.
Her friend, Kathleen Leguin, 33, from France, was second.
“When it came to two friends who trained together, it was really emotional for me,” Karen said. “That never happens. We crossed that finish line with immense pride.
“It was really special. In the end, it was awesome. I was lucky that everything happened as I wanted.
“I didn’t go crazy and I was managing all my ailments. At the end of the day, consistency won.”