Trekking in Outrageous Conditions
Racing through the Sahara desert in temperatures up to 130 degrees took Dr. Douglas Girling six days to finish.
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Just a few months later he went up to the Arctic Circle for and non-stop 120 mile footrace. A challenge not many would dare try. The conditions were harsh and cold. It was so cold that Girling thought he would freeze to death if he ever stopped even to eat and drink.
According to the doctor, he did it because he wanted to see how far he can go in extreme conditions. When he was young, he used to travel to the US to compete in triathlons. His interest in the physiology behind exercise led him to a career in medicine.
Even after being married for 20 years with two kids, Girling, had continued to run. The previous year was when he decided to go for the Sahara race along with his brother, Malcolm, and some friends. They had to run in the searing heat carrying food and camping gear
The pain was intense but the desert was so beautiful that it was worth it. When Girling finished the race, he had run for 34 hours and 46 minutes. It was a great feeling and his relationship with his brother and companions improved as a result.
Come March, he was running again but this time in a polar race which took place in Canada’s Yukon and Northwest Territories on the Dempster Highway where the temperature at the time was around -40 degrees. It was so cold that his shoes froze solid soon after he began. The strong winds made matters worse.
He hauled a wheeled sled with a -40 degree down sleeping bag, a bivy sack, a stove and some extra clothes. On his desert run, he had carried a lightweight backpack, alcohol stove, camping mat, inflatable pillow, foam flip-flops, and lycra gaiter to keep the sand out of his shoes.
It was worse than the desert. He had only run 3 miles when he realized that he had never felt such pain before. His hands froze in seconds the first time he tried to get a water bottle. What a relief it must have been to eat and sleep in the occasional sheltered checkpoints.
It was a test of how much he can handle. He ran in a nylon vapor barrier liner over synthetic long underwear plus booties and head coverings. On one occasion, Girling had to stick a plastic tube into his mouth to prevent his balaclava from freezing solid.
Despite the pain, he managed to finish up to the third of four checkpoints in 48 hours, 57 minutes including four hours of sleep. Sixteen others dropped out, half even before the first checkpoint.
His hunger for adventures had given him a first-hand experience on being out in extreme conditions. It was the closest thing to being in a survival situation without getting himself into a lot of trouble.
While Girling hasn’t given up on adventure challenges, he’s had enough of arctic running. It was the toughest race he had even ran. His next target is the jungle race in the Amazon.