The first full day on Lanzarote for our 40-clients turned out to be quite the day with a triple whammy.

At 0900, five groups ventured out on the coastal trail to the seaside of resort of Famara. Tom Evans, Sondre Amdahl and Elisabet Barnes guiding three groups of runners, arguably described as fast, medium-fast and medium based. Yours truly guided a run/ walk group and ~Marie Paule Pierson guided a walking group.

Tom’s group managed an incredible 34km in 3-hours over some really challenging terrain. By contrast, Marie Paule was out for 5-hours covering approximately 26km with her walking group.

It was a great first session!

In the afternoon, Elisabet and Sondre delivered a 2-hour workshop on the ‘Pack and its Contents’ for multi-day racing, in particular a self-sufficient race such as Marathon des Sables.

They discussed all aspects going through each item of equipment, why they took it and what it weighed. They discussed the pros and cons of each piece of kit and if they considered it to be essential. All valuable information.

At 5pm, we all ventured out to one of the many volcanoes in this area taking a very easy group pace. Once there, we explored climbed, descended and run on the many technical trails that make up this area.

We also had the first outing of ‘The Storm Trooper!’ – Chris Sparrow, who plans to run the 2018 MDS in full Star Wars Storm Trooper dress!

It was a fun few hours before everyone was back in Club La Santa, suitably tired, after a very full day one!

The day ended with a few drinks and a great meal to replenish ahead of a busy day two!