← All eventsMarathon des Sables
Multi-stage self-supported desert ultra: ~250km over 6 stages / ~7 days across the Moroccan Sahara, carrying all your own food and kit (pack 6.5-15kg). Extreme heat, soft sand, an ~80km Long Stage through the night. A running/fast-walking event: heat tolerance, feet and pack strategy matter. Next-edition date (April 2027) is approximate until confirmed.
The Sahara footrace where you carry everything. Six stages, about 250km across southern Morocco over roughly a week, a full week of food and all your kit on your back.
The heat is the event. 40 to 45°C with no shade, soft sand underfoot, and the roughly 80km Long Stage run into and through the night by headtorch.
It is scored on cumulative time across all stages, so the week rewards consistency over fresh-leg speed. A generous 3.5 km/h barrier lets walkers finish, but heat, sand and feet end far more runners than fitness does.
Is Marathon des Sables for you?
- Experienced ultra runners after a bucket-list test rather than a fast time. It is a week of survival and self-sufficiency, not a single hard day.
- Athletes who handle heat well, or will train it. At 40 to 45°C with no shade, heat acclimation decides the race more than raw speed.
- Methodical planners who enjoy the kit puzzle. A 6.5 to 15kg self-supported pack means every gram of food is calories weighed against carrying cost.
- Strong fast-walkers, not just runners. On soft sand and in peak heat, efficient power-walking is often faster and safer than running.
Training plan for Marathon des Sables
A training plan for Marathon des Sables isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- Extreme heat: 40 to 45°C with no shade, all day, for a week
- Soft sand and dunes for a third or more of the route, sapping every step
- A self-supported pack of 6.5 to 15kg carrying all your food and kit
- Six stages back to back, including the roughly 80km Long Stage through the night
- Loaded long runs and walks, 3 to 6h at easy effort with a progressively heavier pack
- Loaded back-to-back weekends building to a 3 to 4 day multi-day simulation
- A late heat-acclimation block: sauna after easy runs plus overdressed heat sessions
- Sand and fast-walk practice at race pack weight, with a rehearsed nightly foot-care routine
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
