In October 2024 I flew to Dunhuang in Gansu provivence China to be on of 54 invited runners to take part in a non stop 400km (250 miles) ish race in the Gobi desert. What made this race unique was it was self supported in the sense you had to prepare everything you would need including food for the multi day even. We have 6 drop boxes that would be at 12 locations (each box got moved to a second location). The race had 40 timing check points, about 10km apart, but there was no set route. The organization had provided a reccomended route GPX file, but it was up to teh runners, to take whatever route they wanted. This made it very exciting at times, as i would take a direct bearing to a point, ignoring the dog leg recommended route, but you never knew if your route would be blocked by a river, fence or cliff! (or protective sheep dogs). I really enjoyed this aspect.
The organizers where amazing, and i highly reccomend this event. I was able to achieve my stretch goal of being under 4 days...by 15 minutes! Good enough for 10th male finisher.
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