INTO THE FIRE OF WADI RUM
Wadi Rum, a land that looks like another planet but punishes like the real world. This year, close to 600-runners from 31 countries are taking on the MDS 120 JORDAN – a three-stage ultra through the desert, spread over four days with one crucial rest day. With a choice of three ´distances, 70km, 100 km, or 120 km – but no matter the number, the journey starts the same way: in the scorching, silent furnace of Wadi Rum.
Welcome to Wadi Rum
This desert is not just scenery, it’s a character in the race. A vast, cinematic expanse of red sand and jagged rock, Wadi Rum, also called “The Valley of the Moon” – feels ancient and otherworldly.
Think towering cliffs, sand that grips your shoes like quicksand, and a horizon that never seems to get closer. It’s a place that doesn’t care how well you trained.
The silence is thick. The beauty is brutal. And from the first step, they feel it: this is going to be tough.
The Numbers Behind the Madness
This year’s field is as diverse as it is determined:
• 600 competitors
• 55% women—a powerful showing in an event known for pushing limits
• 93% are first-time MDS runners
• Youngest runner: 18-year-old – Charles
• Oldest: 74-year-old – Gunard
They’re backed by a lean but formidable race organization team:
150 staff, including 25 medics on the ground, constantly monitoring, assisting, and ready for anything.
Stage 1: 27.4 Kilometres of Reality Check
Day one hits fast and hard. Stage 1 is 27.4 km, but under the Jordanian sun and over Wadi Rum’s unpredictable terrain, it feels twice that.
The stage includes two checkpoints:
• CP1 at 8.5 km
• CP2 at 9 km
The land between them is rugged, and the gap is designed for course management and medical observation. Smart racers use both to fuel, hydrate, and recalibrate.
The course itself is a ruthless sampler platter: loose sand, sudden inclines, rocky outcrops, and heat that seems to rise from beneath your feet. There are no spectators, no shortcuts, no illusions. Just you, your gear, and the next checkpoint.
The Desert Doesn’t Care
The heat, the terrain, and the weight of self-sufficiency slows everyone down. You carry everything: water, food, gear, your doubts.
Every climb feels like three. Every descent threatens your knees. Sand invades everything. By midday, the only thing that’s soft is your resolve—if you let it be.
Shared Solitude
Despite the isolation, there’s camaraderie. Strangers share conversations. Encouragement is shouted in a dozen languages. Some falter, some stop. You need help, someone will stop for you.
The bivouac after Stage 1 is rough but welcoming. Yellow WAA tents flap in the wind. Meals are cooked with shaky hands. But the feeling is clear: we made it. One day down. Two to go.
What This Stage Really Means
Amazingly, 93% are running an MDS event for the first time, Stage 1 maybe a rude awakening? It tells the truth, immediately and without apology: this may (will) hurt. But, if it was easy everyone would do it!
And for all 600, from the youngest to the oldest, it’s a reminder that the desert doesn’t care about your splits. It rewards grit, humility, and the will to keep moving.
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IAN CORLESS 