Les Croupiers Running club

i am doing the marathon de sable in 11, i need some help in what kit and where to go to get it, starting with the right rucksack,sleeping bag, ect,
i know several of le'croup's have done it. if someone could come to a shop and help me pick what would be best. if anyone has anything i would need that i could borrow. i would be grateful.(i have the anti venom pump that nobody uses) thanks

Hi Alan, just picked up on your thread! You may have already found sources of gear by now but if not am happy to help. Let me know. Didn't want to start weaffling about equipment as theres so much to think about but as I say if you wanted to pick brains I have a tiny bit of grey matter left to pick through!

Alan, the website for MDS gear such as gaitors etc is Raidlight. Also found Hammer nutrition do a great electrolyte supplement 'endurolyte'. Re food look for cheaper options such as 2 packs of supernoodles topgether as one meal. Re-package all meals to save alot of weight in jiffy bags. When I did it (2006) there was a few guys doing MDS training weekends which were invaluable. I went on one free weekend to an army guy who was excellent. Managed to shave off several kg's of wgt as a result. Look on the MDS site for any current seminar weekends/ days.

Hidden on the LC website is still Andy fabulous account of his running of the MDS is 2001 - http://www.lescroupiersrunningclub.org.uk/ace/andy.html

Also my kit used in the Atacama here - http://www.mdcwales.org.uk/Newsletter/News07/newsjan07.pdf - Raidlight gaiters are rubbish so try something else. Inov* got some out now.

I just used good old parachute silk for gaitors, handmade and glued n stiched on. Never let in one grain of sand and hence finished with very little foot damage. Did see a few ripped slimline raidlight gaitors.

Hope the stuff wasn't stuff nicked from your previous work Dave!
They'll be a few flyboys annoyed when they pull the handle at Mach 2 and there are holes in the chute.

The socks we used ( me and Richard) were Injinji toesocks which can be ordered on a link thought the M.D.S website.I don't know if you can buy them in shops in this country. The gaitors we made from parachute silk like dave's.

thanks guys, i'm reading what is here. the inji socks are available on raidlight web sight. Dave: in the 10-15 min talk we had the other week it was great
i look forward to more info. even though it's over a year away i'm all excited.

Tried out those injinji socks in training as every one raved about them but ended up with blisters! Rare for me! Felt weird as well with each toe having its own finger bit! Potentially a problem if you need to bind up toes if they get damaged as individual toelets won't allow this. I ended up using full padded thorlos and they worked fab. Started with 2 pair on (one thick, 1 thin) and then as feet swelled over the week just discarded the thin pair. Only had one bad bit of foot damage which was caused by a rock rolling down a mountain and landing on my big toe on day 2, turned into a huge blister that lifted the nail clean off by about 1cm! (got some great photos just before i staggered to Doc Trotters to have it sliced and diced!

Think long and hard about shoes as well Alan. Feet may swell alot, but not lengthways but circumference ways. Shoes should be bigger than you normally use but advice varied widely. People would say anything from 1/2 size to 2 whole sizes bigger than norm. I settled on using New Balance (1 size larger than norm) as they do an extra wide (2EE) shoe so it provided the extra width other shoes don't but wasn't stupidly too long so I didn't look like bo-bo the clown.

The top I wore was a Patagonia long sleeved top, designed for use in extremely hot and sunny conditions (cost a bit more than normal but I loved it). Worked really well and was very confortable. I also tried the standard MDS long sleeve sand coloured top in training that alot of Brits used but the top didn't hold up well to sweat, becoming very stiff and crusty quickly increasing risk of chaffing and abrasions.

Mat, It didn't really matter thanwe cut out lumps of parachute silk from aircrew chutes as we'd already lifted the rockets out the ejection seats so we could use them on fireworks night..... alledgedly!