2011 Gobi March Begins This Weekend

This weekend is turning out to be a good one for endurance athletes. Not only do we have an exceptional adventure race in Colorado and the Western States 100 in California, halfway around the world another group of ultrarunners are preparing to set out on the 2011 edition of the Gobi March, a 250km (155 mile) trek through the Gobi Desert.

The annual race, which is part of the 4 Deserts series of ultramarathons, is set to be another grueling affair this year. Race officials were out on the course yesterday and reported that temperatures were around 42ºC (107ºF) and conditions are expected to remain warm after the race gets underway on Sunday.

At the moment, the competitors are all arriving at the Turpan Basin, a remote region of China that is known to be very dry and hot. This year's route will take them through Aydingkol Lake, which sits 155 meters (508 feet) below sea level and is the farthest point from any ocean on the planet. This year there are 152 athletes, from 30 countries, taking part in the Gobi March. Over the course of the six stages and seven days of racing, they'll be completely self supported while out on the course.

One of the competitors in the 2011 Gobi March is a friend of mine. His name is Wouter Kingma and he'll be taking part in his first ever ultra-event, although he has run plenty of marathons in the past. Wouter is a well known and respected professional photographer who has often attending these kinds of events in a official capacity to take photographs, but this time he'll be on the other side of the lens. He is running to raise money for the ABC Children's Aid Uganda, an organization that works hard to help children in Uganda who are orphaned due to AIDS/HIV or armed conflict.

I want to wish Wouter and all the competitors good luck in this fantastic event.

Ripley Davenport Announces Gobi 2011 Expedition

British Adventurer Ripley Davenport has announced his plans for 2011 by launching a new website in support of his expedition to trek across the Gobi Desert. This new endeavor will spawn a documentary film about the trek and the team's interactions with the indigenous people of the Gobi, while also inspiring others to pursue adventures of their own.

Unlike his attempt to cross Mongolia on foot, which took place earlier this year, Ripley won't be going solo this time out. While he will serve as expedition leader, he'll be joined photographer and filmmaker Emmanuel Berthier, Christopher Schrader, who is a young endurance athlete and the youth ambassador for the expedition. The three men plan to set out on May 24th of next year, and expect the expedition to take approximately 60 days to cover the 1000 mile route through the Gobi.

One important element to this new adventure is that the team hopes to connect with a number of schools and encourage them to incorporate the expedition into their curriculum. In return, Ripley, Emmanuel, and Christopher hope to provide inspiration to the students by allowing them to gain insight into Mongolian culture, while also gaining an understanding of the importance of being responsible and engaged citizens of the planet. The team also hopes to instill a sense of adventure in the students as well, encouraging academic achievement to achieve their goals. For more on the Gobi 2011 School Project, click here.

The team is also looking for other adventurous people to join the fun, so if you have an interest in being part of the expedition, click here.

The Gobi is the fifth largest desert on the planet, spreading across northwest China and southern Mongolia. It is a land of extremes, and the expedition could face everything from heat stroke to freezing blizzards, with conditions changing very rapidly. It will be a test of their stamina for sure, but considering Ripley spent some time crossing the Gobi this year, it should feel like home when he arrives in 2011.

Good luck guys!

The 2010 Gobi March Begins This Weekend!

The 2010 edition of the Gobi March is set to get underway this weekend, with more than 150 ultra-runners from around the globe descending on Urumqi, China to begin a week long stage race through the grueling environment of the Gobi Desert. 


The Gobi March is part of Racing The Planet's 4 Deserts series of ultramarathons. This one takes place in far western China in the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Each day will mark a stage of the race, with runners setting out in the morning carrying the supplies they will need for the day. The weather is traditionally quite warm, and dry, as you might expect from a desert race, and back in 2005, it actually reached 122ºF on one of the stages. 


At the end of each stage, the competitors will rest for the night in a tent city that is constructed for them by the race organizers. They'll have food, water and shelter while there, but once they hit the trail, it is up to them to make their way between checkpoints carrying their own gear and navigating through the open desert. The top competitors will finish the all six stages in a combined time of roughly 25 hours, but the bulk of the pack will be much further back than that. Day in and day out, this can be quite a difficult event, as the participants are essentially running nearly a marathon each day, in some of the most extreme conditions on the planet.

Maybe while their out there, they'll bump into Ripley Davenport. (And yes, I do know he's in Mongolia!)