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On the 6th March the three of us will be embarking on Racing The Planet's 2011 Atacama Crossing. Part of the 4 Deserts series and named #2 in TIME magazine's 'top 10 Endurance Competitions in the world', the Atacama Crossing is a multi-stage foot race across Chile. The race itself is the most physically demanding event any of us has yet to undertake and as we strive to finish we aim to raise £6690.00 for prostate cancer research.

 

Race details:

 

The race is a seven day event (six days running plus one rest day) covering 150miles of the Atacama desert.

 

The Atacama desert sits in the 'rain shadow' of the Andes. The average annual precipitation is 0.1mm, making it 50 times more arid than California's Death Valley.

 

Daytime temperatures exceed 32 Celsius whilst night time temperatures are often just above freezing. The entire race course is held at least 1.6km above sea level (the 2006 race went as high as 4,110m though the exact route changes yearly).

 

Race competitors are required to be self-sufficient (with the exception of tents and water). The heaviest start bag weighed in at over 14kg, the lightest being just over 6kg.

 

The desert has the most luna-like landscape on Earth and is frequently used by NASA to its Mars over vehicles.