Taking the Challenge of a Lifetime! : Atacama Crossing 2016

 Published on 23/09/2016 on Daily News     

Every single task you do is a challenge. And each challenge tests your level of strength, endurance and for some…the level of crazy! You do the craziest of challenges thrown at you because you want to feel and see things that you’ve never experienced. For some, the challenge is out of pure passion, then there are thrill seekers and then there are people who do it because they feel that there is something missing in their life.

Be it climbing Mount Everest, taking an expedition to center of the earth or exploring the moon … when you want to do it…you go do it! How about crossing 250 kilometers in 7 days with only your strength, wit and backpack to support you in the world’s driest desert? Are you ready for that? Will you able to handle a challenge like that?

Well by the time you figure that out let me tell you that two guys have already answered that question and they have only 9 more days left to complete their final hours of training and prepping their body and mind to go an adventure no other Sri Lankan has dared to do before!

For Shihan John who was in the Air Force and a product from Wesley College has been running for the past four years. He took part in the Colombo marathon which he says was too fast for him. Taking up a challenge like the Atacama Crossing is beyond a marathon which can go for 100 to 200km. Last year, Shihan was the only Sri Lankan to participate in the first ever RacingThePlanet: Sri Lanka (ninth edition of the Roving Race) a 250 kilometer (155 mile), 6-stage, 7-day endurance foot race and came in at 30. He made lifelong friends with racers around the world who are helping him a lot with his fundraising for the Atacama Crossing.

Crazy desert races

“I used to run a lot those days. I started off five years back with a 5km to 10km gradually increasing to like a 30km run watching YouTube videos of crazy desert races/ultra marathons which were over 100km. I was feeling deprived as to why I can’t do something like this. I always wanted it. When I was in the Air Force and training…I never wanted to run and I never did any sports in school either. For my 30th birthday I woke up at 3.30am and ran 30km from Battaramulla and ended up on Panadura and gradually increased it every year”, Shihan said talking about how this Atacama idea all started.

“After the local marathon of 250km and while recovering from my knee injuries, I realized this is what I want to do. I was thinking and contemplating about doing it and whether I have the money to do all this”, he added.

This is where Rt Major Ruvan Ranatunga comes into the picture. Major Ruvan (who is no stranger to us) walked from Point Dondra to Point Pedro in 2013 to raise funds and create awareness on Cancer. Shiran had heard of Major Ruvan and heard he was crazy as him and always wanted to meet him. “By chance I had walked into his store (Adventure SEALs) to buy a Hydration Pack. I was going on about what I wanted to do and saw the hoardings of major and realized the face is very familiar and then it struck me – oh this is so and so!”

Somehow, when the Atacama challenge came to me, I went and spoke to Major and I was like “you’re going to join me right?”

Atacama Challenge

You must be wondering what this Atacama Challenge is all about. Well, let’s see… Atacama Desert in Chile is known to be the driest desert in the world – it’s made up of salt lakes, volcanoes, lava flows and sand dunes. When researching, I found out that this desert was used as a film location for filming Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets as this landscape was similar to that of Planet Mars. I was going to compare it to Mad Max…but this explains it better.

The race typically begins at its highest point of more than 3,000 meters in the Arcoiris Valley and then it goes down. The host country for this race is San Pedro de Atacama. The route takes you on variations of the desert terrain. On Saturday October 1 there will be a competitor briefing and soon after lunch depart to Camp 1. There are 6 stages to this race and Stage 1 of the race will begin at 8am. So the first four days you have 40km to cover each day, fifth and sixth day is longest stretch covering 80km with the seventh day you have 10km to finish off.

Since this is a self sustained race you only get a tent and water from them. The tents are provided at the campsites where there is access to hot water, campfire, medical assistance and the CyberTent to connect with family friends and update their challenge. Everything else has got to be in your backpack. You need to carry 7 days of ration (dehydrated food less weight more calories and easy to prepare), a minimum of three litres of water plus a kit list of 35 mandatory items (sleeping bags, medical items, emergency stuff, headlamps etc) and basically run with all of them.

The cost for this challenge is like 1 million per person. And the only person who he could approach and who knew would support him as well as understand his madness was his boss. His boss was like let’s see what we can do…and then Shiran signed up for the challenge. Soon after Major was like “can I join?” but he had to get permission for his boss (his wife)…which he did!

Shiran went on to explain that there is a differentiation between Stage races and Ultra Marathons. Stage races would be a longer distance divided into a couple days. Ultra Marathon would be a race beyond 100km which would continue within a few hours (24 or 48 hours).

When asked about their preparations for the challenge Major Ruvan adds “It’s challenging but there’s some information available for us from the previous participants who have blogged about it. They share a lot of their experiences on the 4 deserts. Now that’s the good thing about this entire thing. The 4 Deserts Race is done by people who are passionate about it. It’s a competitive in its own way but it’s more of a personal challenge and therefore they are very free in sharing their experiences…their routines, the do’s/don’ts. So in that sense that community is amazing in supporting unit because how are you going to know how to run 250km across a desert in the other side of the world. And for someone from Sri Lanka it is completely like running in Mars. The thrill of the entire thing is partly the ‘uncertainty of it’, it’s something new and exciting and there is nothing you can compare in your life to this. That’s the excitement of it. It’s not something I would say ‘I’ve done this before so I know how to manage this’. The training component of it is basically relying on some of the experience guys feedback and advice”.

Supporting the Trail Walk

“For us with the limited resources out here, the climate, the terrain is different, there is only so much you can incorporate and especially with our work life too. We don’t have the luxury of time to a great extent as fitting this is into a tight schedule our time is very limited. Some guys would prepare for this for a couple of years before they even attempt but here we just decided in a few months and we are like ‘let’s go’!”, Ruvan added.

This foot race will also be supporting the Trail Walk which will start on October 6. “Trail was not in the cards when we started off but when we looked at the dates Trail was starting on the October 6 and we are finishing on October 8. I saw one of the trailers Trail had developed and then I realized we should do something about it. I had a chat with Shihan and he too was in agreement. The run will happen and if this run can benefit like the walk (Long Walk of Hope), if we can create a platform for people to come, then we would be honoured. I spoke to Sarinda and told him about the race and that we will like to dedicate it to Trail. We have not gone behind organizations asking for them to support us but what we ask is contribute to the Trail”, Major Ruvan added.

As mentioned earlier, this is one expensive challenge and one needs a special medical insurance policy that covers your medical and evacuation. This was taken over and financially supported by Union Assurance. Major Ruvan and Shiran thank Dirk and his staff for pitching and helping them out. Then there is Garmin who sponsored them with the watches for their training. Others on board are MAS Holdings and Adventure SEALs. Everyone from family to friends and fans are supporting Shihan John and Rt Major Ruvan Ranatunga in a big manner!

They will be flying off on Tuesday and we wish them the very best for this crazy one of a kind, grueling, soul searching and passion driven challenge.