The Marathon des Sables 2018 is underway and our man is doing us proud. Callum Duffy finished Stage 1 in 44th place (7th Brit). What a phenomenal effort!
That’s 18.83 miles in 2hrs 53min 21sec. That’s a fairly steady 9.21min/mile for him. He did say he wanted to use the first few days to get his bearings and try to move on places in the long phase. So this seems consistent with that.
On a training hike in the Cairngorms we discussed relative ambitions. Mine were to finish mid table at best, his were to finish in the top 100. Assuming he keeps injury free, I’ve every faith in his experience at long distance, load carrying expeditions to carry him through to a top 50 finish.
You can view results here: http://www.marathondessables.com/results/live/g-live.html?f=MDS2018/MDS2018.clax
Also you can write messages of support to him here (his bib number is 411): http://www.marathondessables.com/en/marathon-des-sables-maroc/write-to-a-racer
