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Watch: Desert Ultra documentary

Written by Fiona

April 27 2020

A 30-minute documentary about a 250km African running race, the Desert Ultra, has been released.

The race begins at Spitzkoppe Mountain in the Namib Desert, passes the Brandberg Mountains and Doros Crater and finishes at a Namibian Save the Rhino Trusts’ outpost.

The Desert Ultra is split into five stages of sand dunes, dry river beds and baking scrubland in the shadow of rocky mountains.

Runners endure sweltering heat during the long days on their feet, yet freezing cold nights.

As a self-sufficient race, runners are responsible for carrying their entire kit, including food, safety equipment and a minimum of 2.5 litres of water, which can be re-filled at checkpoints every 10km. Accommodation at campsites built by the race team.

Interesting fact: The course is marked using only sustainable materials, which are reused yearly and collected in at the end of each stage. No single-use plastic water bottles are used and a tree is planted in a planned reforesting project for each runner who flies to Africa to take part in the race.

Desert Ultra: The documentary

This Desert Ultra documentary was released on YouTube on Friday and follows a multi-national group of athletes as they raced hundreds of kilometres through the Namib desert last November.

For the first time in the race’s history, Beyond the Ultimate let a film crew behind the scenes to follow the journey of the runners and the race team as they battled through hundreds of kilometres of harsh running conditions and terrain.

For some it’s a race to break the course record, while for others it’s a fight to hang on and finish.

Over the course of the film, you’ll see a first time ultra-runner shock everyone by claiming an amazing course record and the first Namibian runner to win the event.

Film by Ryan Lovejoy | www.outpost9films.com. Also see Desert Ultra.

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