Sand Dunes!

Well we know that there are sand dunes in the Sahara, and so it is important to have a crack at them to make sure the gaiters are effective at keeping sand out of the shoes.

It took a while, but finally I found a cobbler who was able to glue and sew my silk knee-high gaiters to my trail running shoes. The cobbler was at a little shop (shack) right near Middle Brighton railway station.

Sure they look a little silly, but I have heard feedback from past MDS competitors that they would wear clown shoes if they would keep the sand out of their shoes!!

Blisters are a major reason why people dont finish the event, so anything that keeps sand out of the shoes, has got to be a good thing!

OK so I found a sand dune that turns out to be about 80m high. Smaller than most in the Sahara, but still a good test.



Then it was up we go - shoulders back, running up the sand dune... looking good as we start up the steep sandy slope!



Pretty quickly it got a bit harder....



And then it got so hard.. it was just a slow hard slog just to get up. Shoulders down, just trying to put one foot in front of the other, with the sand slipping between your feet! This really was a good test of the gear for Sahara conditions!!



Sometimes it was hard to even put one foot in front of the other!!





Finally, at the top! An 80m sand dune climb took over 3 minutes!!



Sucking in the air!!



Then the fun began.. flying DOWN the sand dune! It was actually stacks of fun, easy to go down and stay balanced, and took about 20 seconds to come down!!








And the result, no sand in the shoes! The gaiters worked! Highly successful test!

Went up and down again for a second time, and tried to kick up as much sand as possible coming down, and again, no sand in the shoes!! Awesome!