ADVENTURE IN THE ANDES
At Melbourne suburban night events during the winter Greg Tamblyn was a regular entrant in the Power Walker category, but there was a difference. He carried a backpack full of rice. This was part of his training for an epic race across a high altitude desert in the Chilean Andes.
The Atacama Desert Race Greg Tamblyn (VIC) Greg crossing the finish line
A
RE you mad?” “It’s a desert and it’s the driest place in the world and you are planning to race 250km across it?” I had comments like this for months before I left for the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
and the potential for injuries and blisters goes way up. It is important to keep telling your body to keep going and going and going. Finally you get to camp and then have to do it all again the next day.
In July this year I joined 130 individuals from around the world on a seven day 250km race across the Atacama Desert. Rules were very simple you had to carry all your own food, equipment and sleeping gear for the entire race. The organisers would only supply a place in a tent and water at the checkpoints each day.
Days Five and Six were one long stage. It included a night stage and covered a total of 86km. The first 25km was a crossing of the salt flats. This was made doubly hard by the headwinds, which would not let up.
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The Atacama Desert is an amazing area with enormous contrasts. The high Andes Mountains are always on the horizon with a couple of active volcanoes gently pumping steam into the sky. It has areas of weathered rock, soft sand, low scrub and grasses and about 100km of soft and horrible salt flats (the area is renowned for them).
Due to the hours on the move each and every day, the days became a blur of impressions, rest and photo stops. Some I will really never forget. Some areas looked like walking through snow; the surface was actually covered with thick layers of salt. During the night stage we walked through the Valley of the Moon an area of amazing shapes and rocky outcrops that were all highlighted by a full moon.
Day One started at 4,600 metres, heading down the only river valley in the area. Over 40 km and 50 freezing river crossings later we finally reached the campsite.
The most memorable part was running the last 5km to the finish line with everybody from the local village cheering me on.
Day Two had the last water we would see as we started by moving through 3km of slot canyons. This quickly changed to a long rocky ridge that lead to some enormous sand dunes.
It was the toughest race I have ever been in both physically and mentally and yes I am really glad I completed it. My recovery has encouraged me to try again and I have even entered the next race at Kashgar in the Gobi Desert of China in June next year. You can keep track of my progress at www.racingtheplanet.com
Days Three and Four were more and more sand and more rocky ground. It seemed endless, somewhere in this period your mental training has to kick in and it becomes more important than the physical training. You really get tired 32 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2006
