TRANSCRIPT: Conquering the Marathon des Sables
MEL DOYLE: It's an assignment that scares off the fittest, most capable endurance runners on earth. So why is a woman, savagely burned and with one foot, tackling the world's toughest race? Well, you're about to see why. No matter how daunting and difficult the contest, you don't want to stand between Aussie inspiration Kate Sanderson and any finish line. Alex Cullen takes us to Morocco, where the sweeping Sahara becomes a hell on earth. So be warned, there's some strong language ahead.
(WOMAN SIGHS, PANTS)
Well, I would walk 500 miles
And I would 500 more
To be the man who walked
a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
Da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da
Da-da-dun da-da-dun
da-da-dun da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da
Da-da-dun da-da-dun
da-da-dun da-da-da-da-da. #
KATE SANDERSON: There's no shade. There's no wind. Apparently if there's wind, that means there's a sandstorm.
ALEX CULLEN: And it can get 40, 50 degrees?
KATE: I hope it's not that hot.
LUKE INGOLD: It's fucking SCORCHING hot. It's fucking shit ground. Our feet have got blisters. This isn't a thing you say, "Oh, enjoy the journey." Fuck the journey!
PETER KINGSTON: It's a race that tests you mentally, a race that tests you spiritually, it tests you physically. It doesn't let you make a mistake.
WARWICK JONES: I didn't expect it to be like this.
ALEX CULLEN: Yeah.
WARWICK: That's a big dune.
ALEX CULLEN: You're the only one doing it with 60% burns to your body as well as a prosthetic foot, though.
KATE: I think everyone out there, 1,300 competitors, will be doing it tough. Yeah, it's not just me.
LUKE: If you're watching this video, I'm most likely dead or in hospital.
KATE: Oh, Mari-Mar! (MUMBLES)
WOMAN: What's wrong?
KATE: Oh, just how am I going to get through this bit?
ALEX CULLEN: Kate Sanderson is 41, from Melbourne. She's training for the world's toughest foot race… And if she does this, if she finishes, what sort of achievement will it be?
HEATHER CLELAND: Oh, this will be a colossal achievement. The sort of...mental tenacity and strength that's required to front up for one of these events in any situation is extreme. And for her, after what she's been through, and, you know, she's got a pretty good idea of what's involved here, I think it'll just be one of the most outstanding achievements you could think of.
ALEX CULLEN: This race is gruelling for anyone. But for Kate, it's going to be even tougher.
CHRIS BATH: Two women are fighting for their lives after being severely burnt in a bushfire while running an ultramarathon in Western Australia.
ALEX CULLEN: It was 2011. Kate and the other runners didn't know there was a bushfire ahead.
KATE: Yeah, I just got in the crevice, but it lit my shoulder and then I just thought, "This is what it's like to die in a fire." (SNIFFS)… And when the fire came through it was so intense that I just...I just jumped up without thinking and just covered my face, so hence my fingers and tendons are gone in my fingers, but I saved my face. And I just fell and fell and fell down the mountain and got up and...thought, "Shit, I'm still alive." Like, I just didn't expect to live, 'cause the heat was just so intense.
ALEX CULLEN: Kate and Turia Pitt were the most badly burnt. It took four excruciating hours for help to arrive. Kate spent three weeks in intensive care and six months in hospital.
KATE: And I never thought I'd get through it. Yeah, I just thought, "How the hell am I going to get through this?"… Being told I'd never be able to run again... (SNIFFS)..you know...is hard... Yeah, that's how it is. But, you know, it's my new normal. I've learnt to... You know, I can do most things, just a bit different. It's still frustrating, but, you know, I can do everything.
ALEX CULLEN: For the past 31 years, the Marathon des Sables has been held in Morocco, which extends into the Sahara, the hottest desert on earth.
PETER: You get an opportunity to go to a part of the world that so few people can ever go to that is just mind-blowingly beautiful.
ALEX CULLEN: Peter Kingston has run this race twice before. He knows what's in store for Kate.
PETER: What she's doing here is absolutely outstanding. I just wish her every success and really want her to get through. She's an absolute inspiration.
ALEX CULLEN: What about the group of people you're going with? What are they like?
KATE: Uh, great bunch. Half of them, I didn't know a week ago. It's just going to be all full of laughs, really. Yeah.
ALEX CULLEN: (CHUCKLES) Until you get halfway through those sand dunes.
Kate: Yeah. Well, then I might grab on to one of them.
ALEX CULLEN: Is a little bit of you scared?
KATE: No. Well, there's no flies in a desert, I hope. So there's that. Um, no, I'm a little bit cautious and maybe a bit more risk-averse than previous to my accident. But the goal is to finish. My goal has always been to finish. And so if I have to walk it, so be it.
(HIGHWAY TO HELL BY AC/DC PLAYS)
ALEX CULLEN: 24 Australians are in it, including Luke and Warwick from the Central Coast of New South Wales.
(ALL CHEER)
ALEX CULLEN: Kate will be walking with Mari-Mar and Bronwyn.
My friends are gonna
be there too, yeah
I'm on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell... #
ALEX CULLEN: Peter will be ahead of Kate. He's trying to make the top 100. There are 1,100 competitors from almost 50 countries…What's the drawcard for this particular race?
KATE: I don't know. It's the challenge. If people say, "That was so tough, I can't do it," that's kind of like a challenge for me. I'm like, "Right. I'm going to see if I can do it."…(PANTS)
ALEX CULLEN: The rules are simple. You're given a daily ration of water and a tent to sleep in - that's it. You must carry all your food and bedding on your back. Each day you complete a marathon in a set time or you're disqualified…What are you thinking so far?
LUKE: It's good. It's, like, a dream pace. It's just a casual walk with a mate.
ALEX CULLEN: They just had to contend with 12 kilometres of sand dune. And not only are they dealing with those, it's also the heat, the dust, the wind - and they've got another 20 kilometres to go…What makes Kate's attempt to compete in this ultramarathon so extraordinary is not only that she has one foot, but her skin grafts don't contain sweat glands. And sweating is the main way the body cools down in hot weather.
KATE: I can't regulate my temperature. I get hot really quickly. And then I can't cool down. So, um, it's a bit frustrating that I can train and train and train and be as fit as anything and get over there and it's out of my hands whether I have to pull out or not…What a hell it would be without the wind! But the wind just keeps it bearable. I feel fine and stuffed at the same time. And I know that doesn't make sense.
ALEX CULLEN: (CHUCKLES) I doubt anything out there makes sense.
KATE: Oh! I'm actually looking forward... I actually really like the sandstorm because of the wind.
LUKE: You've got the camp in the distance. It's been a fucking terrible day.
ALEX CULLEN: After nearly 10 hours of walking, Bronwyn and Kate finish the first day. They narrowly avoid disqualification.
BRONWYN HULL: Before the first checkpoint, we got to this hill... Hill? I think it was a mountain. I think it was Everest. Yeah. And the cut-out. And I just sat at the top and I just was...Oh! I just vomited and vomited and vomited.
ALEX CULLEN: Did the thought of stopping enter your mind?
BRONWYN: Yep. Lots and lots.
PETER: G'day, Kate. (CHUCKLES)
KATE: Come in, Peter.
PETER: How are you feeling, though?
KATE: That was a hard day.
PETER: They're all hard days.
KATE: Just feet. And I popped a blister. And now I'm worried about tomorrow, because I was only half an hour within cut-off this time.
(APPLAUSE)
PETER: (PUFFS) Tough day at the office. Well, struggling. Mentally, it's a tough day for me today.
ALEX CULLEN: Why?
PETER: Dunno. Can't tell you. You know, sometimes you just hit those black spots and you just... You know, everything's a drudge, everything's...you know, every little...every little thing goes against you.
LUKE: It's 40-plus degrees out here. There's just no wind. It is absolutely brutal.
HEATHER: Clearly this is a dangerous undertaking. And if she were to become... too hot, essentially, you know, that can be something that can kill you.
ALEX CULLEN: So she could die out there?
HEATHER: Uh, I would...
ALEX CULLEN: Could she die out there?
HEATHER: Well, I, uh... That would be my opinion. And I think you'd probably find other people who'd agree with it.
DR. OLIVER GANANSIA: The heat is worst compared to other years. There's more people who stop the race. We had a Spanish runner who get, like, a severe cardiac arrhythmia, that we got to anaesthesia him and shock him.
ALEX CULLEN: You resuscitated him?
DR. GANANSIA: Yeah. He's OK now.
PETER: And times are much, much slower than they have been in the past, 'cause everyone's just getting belted. And dehydrated. There's a lot of dehydration around the camp.
ALEX CULLEN: At night, the medical team is overwhelmed. The symptoms of extreme dehydration are frightening. After two days, 60 runners have abandoned the race…How are your legs?
KATE: (BREATHLESSLY) Crap. Crap… I put Betadine on that one last night.
WOMAN: You did? Have you got any more? I might put it on that one, not on this one. Sorry.
KATE: That's OK. That's OK.
ALEX CULLEN: Kate Sanderson is one of 1,100 competitors trying to finish a 257km ultramarathon in the Sahara Desert. The race is taking its toll. Surprisingly, we find Peter not preparing for the race, but preparing to go home.
PETER: I could think of all sorts of reasons why it's sort of belted me mentally this time, but...just not in a good head space to be able to continue. I didn't want for me to be down in the dumps and everybody around me to sort of start to get infected by that. So, pull the pin.
ALEX CULLEN: Under race rules, Peter gets breakfast and is immediately kicked out of camp.
ALEX CULLEN: Peter pulled out.
KATE: What?
ALEX CULLEN: Yeah. He pulled out this morning.
KATE: Oh. Um...shocked, actually.
ALEX CULLEN: Yeah.
(CHEERING)
ALEX CULLEN: Competitors have completed over 100 kilometres. There's 140 to go. So far, they've seen their fair share of sand dunes - but nothing like this.
LUKE: I didn't expect it to be like this. That's a big dune.
KATE: (GRUNTS) That's brutal. That's brutal. Look at that.
ALEX CULLEN: There's a backlog ahead. Kate can't afford to wait in the heat and goes up through the sand… Remember, because of Kate's burns, she can't sweat properly and has trouble cooling down.
KATE: (PANTS) Shit… (SIGHS) OK.
WOMAN: I just can't believe what she does. And the fact that she has no... you know, no foot, basically. Going down for her is probably the hardest. Going up, she just flies, doesn't she? She flies, like, going up.
KATE: (SIGHS)
ALEX CULLEN: Over the mountain...and into a furnace. Kate's temperature is rising and she's in serious danger of overheating.
KATE: Come on, wind.
LUKE: It's fucking SCORCHING hot! "Try and enjoy the journey." Fuck the journey!
WOMAN: No journey!
KATE: I had a few moments where I was crawling under cars. I think 'cause I haven't... I had diarrhoea today as well. Trying to get into any shade I could. Yeah, tough. We haven't finished yet. We're still going.
ALEX CULLEN: Kate's body is under so much stress, it's a wonder she's still going.
KATE: The plan is to keep going as far as we can.
MARI-MAR WALTON: We have to keep going all night to get past the heat.
ALEX CULLEN: Kate will eventually walk for 28 hours straight.
SONG: # The night so black
That the darkness hums... #
ALEX CULLEN: It's 3:30 in the morning! This is weird, isn't it?
KATE: Yep. Anyway, it should be over in another... I don't even know how long it's gonna take. I can't calculate.
ALEX CULLEN: However long it takes?
KATE: Yep.
I'm not done yet
How many years
I know I'll bear
I found something
In the woods somewhere. #
WARWICK: Last day. Been a pretty big week. Just a cheeky 42 to finish today. Which is a nice feeling.
KATE: You do a high, hard day and you'd always have another day and another day and another day. And for once, I have no more days.
ALEX CULLEN: After a week out here in the Sahara Desert...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
… Kate and her friends finally finish.
(APPLAUSE)
KATE: All my team-mates, all the Aussie guys - amazing. Just, I couldn't get through without any of them… I didn't think I'd... Even day one. I was 15 minutes within the first cut-off and I was like, "Oh, how the hell am I gonna get through this?" And I didn't think I'd do it.
ALEX CULLEN: Well done.
KATE: Thank you.
ALEX CULLEN: You're a superstar.
KATE: Thank you.
ALEX CULLEN: Do you feel like a superstar?
KATE: I feel like a shower!
ALEX CULLEN: (LAUGHS)
KATE: To see there's, like, maybe 500 people out there clapping and cheering me on, all the back markers, was just amazing. I've never had that before. And it was just beautiful.
ALEX CULLEN: Altogether, 135 competitors abandoned the race - and Kate Sanderson wasn't one of them.
KATE: I feel sore. I feel relieved. Happy. Just can't believe this has ended.
ALEX CULLEN: Would you do it again?
KATE: That was next level.
ALEX CULLEN: Yeah.
KATE: Yeah. And I can't handle the heat. So...um... yeah, I might go the opposite. I might go to Antarctica or something. I think I'll take up chess.
ALEX CULLEN: (LAUGHS)
