Into the abyss

The low murmur of softly spoken Afrikaans woke us before the sun rose. Deep in your stomach is a feeling of nervous anticipation and fear.
The camp was waking up slowly, the cooks preparing breakfast as the competitors emerged blearily from their tents.
Water bottles were filled, energy drinks mixed and running bags carefully packed, unpacked, and packed again.
Every item was assessed for its weight against necessity, many were discarded as we tried to minimise the amount we would carry. Suddenly the task ahead of us had become very real.
The heat of the day before had been a lesson and a race requirement to carry a minimum of two litres of water through every stage meant even the most basic running packs were a burden to be reckoned with. 9am and the sun is just rising above the mountain.
It is already hot. In the desert around us there is nothing but heat and dust. On the start line, which is made of jeep tracks in the sand, stand Tom, from Northern Ireland, Andy ,aged 46, of North Yorkshire, Joakim Jonnson, 32, of Sweden, Ken Dunne, 35, Alan Logue, 35, Will May, 25, from London, a 40-year-old myself and my compadre Pete Holdgate, aged 56, and Chris McCarthy a 25-year-old from London.
All of were here for different reasons. All of us had prepared differently. But one thing we had in common was that ahead of us lay 120 kilometres of unknown desert and pain.
The route we were to take would lead us across gravel plains, river beds, sand expanses with no horizon and through the magnificent Messum crater, a 20k wide scar on the earth caused by a meteorite collision millions of years ago.
Ahead of us lay individual journeys that would stay with us forever, but parts of which we would prefer to forget. The nerves were evident in our silence but that ended with a single shot from a pistol fired by race starter Farn.
The race had begun and all set out with a muted cheer and mutual calls of good luck. I can only describe what lay ahead through my own experience and observations of the other competitors. Each will have their own story to tell.