Marathon des Sables Race numbers & how to follow progress

On Thursday we fly to Morocco, and we start the 2011 Marathon des Sables on Sunday. Some of you have asked if you can check our progress while we are in the Desert. During the race, the website http://www.darbaroud.com should post updates each day and allow people to follow competitors. Should you wish to see if we’re still going (or even winning?!), our race numbers are as follows: 743 GILBERT Kevin GBR 744 GILBERT Sally GBR 770 HOUSE Trent AUS 776 KITLEY Joanna GBR 800 MORGAN Emyr GBR 803 MULLEY Rebecca GBR Just in case you have managed to avoid our endless talk of calories per gram or miles per minute, the race is 156 miles across the Sahara Desert. We have to be self-sufficient for the entire distance, so we carry our own food, cooking equipment, sleeping bags, clothes and first aid/blister treatments. I haven’t weighed my pack yet or attempted to fit everything in, but I’m hoping it will come in under 12kg (before water). The organisers distribute water at each checkpoint (so we are only carrying up to 3 litres at any one time) and put up bivouacs for us to sleep in each night. We have to comply with strict rules, such as a 2hr penalty if we need a drip, a 3hr penalty if they find a discarded water bottle of ours in the desert (very sustainable!), and disqualification if we need a second drip! If the sweeper camel catches you its all over as you are too slow! Our compulsory equipment includes an anti-venom pump, a signalling mirror, a whistle and a compass, although I’m hoping I won’t need to use any of them. The race route and distances per day are different each year, so we only know exactly what we are in for when then give us our route book on the bus on the way to the desert. However, it usually follows a similar pattern of something like: Day 1 – 16 miles, Day 2 – 23 miles, Day 3 – 25 miles, Day 4 – 52 miles, Day 5 – rest day (for those who aren’t still running from the day before!), Day 6 – marathon, Day 7 – 14 miles. If you haven’t yet sponsored us, and would still like to, the web page is http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/sotonmds - we are raising money for two excellent charities: Medecins Sans Frontieres and Smile4Wessex based at the Wessex Neurological Centre at Southampton General Hospital. There will be daily TV coverage on the following channels, however I assume this will be update on the leaders, so I somehow doubt I will be featured :-( …..Sally on the other hand…. ;-) TV5 (world): Daily 5-minute report, broadcast from 3 to 9 April according to the following timetable by continent:- EUROPE: Every day at 8.55 p.m. Berlin. EUROSPORT 2: News item every day from 3 to 9 April 2011 at 7.30 p.m. Also, attached is our press release in case you are interested. [Press Release]. Hopefully see you all in a couple of weeks! Becky x p.s. after this I retire