Olivia Hackshaw, St Lucia
September 26, 2005
Day One: The first “Sahara Race”
2005; my first ever. The enormity of what I’ve undertaken
is not lost. At 5 feet nothing I’ve never been an athlete
and now at 58 in the ranks of some of some of the world’s
best endurance racers. I’ve done some training in the
past year but largely on my own-no personal trainers or anything.
I would like to finish the course (who wouldn’t), I
can just see myself waltzing in to ER/OPC at St.Jude with
medal and certificate-that would knock em for six! Now to
the throbbing drums of the Egyptian musicians who are seeing
us off I feel I could dance my way over the desert.
Well I was the first drop out- one of several.
I know after starting I was ready to quit. Electrolyte replacement
not working, not enough water till the first checkpoint. Along
come the sweepers of the trail- two lovely young women and
two camel drivers, with camels of course. The camels provide
shade, the girls encouragement. A “Frisson”or
two pass through me. One Km outside checkpoint 1, I request
a ride in one of the vehicles. Brandee the MD is there with
the checkpoint officials. They offer cool water and a water
spray. I drink it by the liter. Soon the first medical S.O.S-
someone cramping. MD departs. The plan was to get me to camp
and that involved a couple of vehicle rides and a stop at
a medical CP just outside CP2, where it resembled a mass casualty
scene. A dozen or more flaking out, fanning even vomiting.
Something in me kicks in so I do the Florence Nightingale
bit. Carolyn the RN is in top gear now. Reports and sightings
of others who are succumbing to the unrelenting desert of
deserts. Lots of radio-ing to CP1 and CP2. I think just now
they will need CPR! One racer we find of course, a bit disoriented
and weak. MD and another vehicle medivac him to main camp.
I get there eventually-Andrew my compatriot and member of
an elite team is found. They look knackered. I give some foot
care and encouragement. Elite racers everywhere but they comport
themselves with such humility. The campsite is out of this
world. Large limestone formations, out of a museum of modern
art remind me that modern art aint so modern. Starlight, a
shooting star, the local crew speaking Arabic, my desert,
my Sahara, I see it again after 35 years. Well now Jolien
told me to go to the Sahara Race and have fun; I am having
fun.
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