Racing The Planet Satisfies Competitive Siblings

By Nancy K. Crevier

Founded ten years ago by an American woman named Mary K. Gadams, RacingThePlanet is a series of self-supported footraces comprised of routes through four of the planet’s harshest desert environments. The 250km (155 miles) course takes place in six stages, over seven days.

RacingThePlanet puts competitors in the Atacama Desert in Chile; the Gobi Desert in China; the Sahara Desert in Egypt; and every other year, including 2012, in the Antarctica, also known as “The Last Desert.”

Newtown residents, sister and brother Tara and James Gaston, have already completed the Atacama and Gobi races, and James has also finished the Jordan this year, one of the Roving Races, a race that moves location each year and which was added to the RacingThePlanet calendar in 2008.

They hope to become the first siblings in the world to complete the four desert runs in a year, when they cross the finish line in the Antarctica in November. If they complete the series, James will also be the youngest to do so, and only the third person worldwide to complete five of the events in a single year.

A biology major who will start medical school at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey in August, Tara, a 2006 graduate of Newtown High School, where she starred in soccer, said that she first heard of RacingThePlanet in a sports magazine, in the spring of 2010.

“I was just out of college and a little bored. So I called James and said, ‘Let’s do this.’”

At the time, James, a three time All-American high school swimmer (Bolles High School in Jacksonville, Fla.) was attending University of California Santa Barbara and nursing a shoulder injury that had ended his college swimming career.

“I had never even run before. I was a swimmer. But we made this a new goal, and it just happened. There was no backing down, once we adjusted our schedules,” said James.

“We wanted the extreme challenge of doing all four races,” said Tara, and added that both of them tend to be pretty competitive.

Tara had never run distances before, “But these ultra marathons — it’s amazing being out there,” she said.

With the backing and support of family and friends, the siblings set out in March for Chile, where they competed in the first of the four desert races. Adjusting to the whole race was a big challenge there, said James.

Each desert race consists of a marathon length race of 20 to 26 miles for the first four days; a 50 mile race that must be completed within 30 to 40 hours on the fifth and sixth days, with overlap into the final day, which consists of a 10 to 15 kilometer race. Each participant carries 2.5 liters of water — “It was 90 to 100 degrees in Chile, so we just kept dumping water on our heads,” said Tara — refilled at the four water stops along the course; a backpack with freeze dried food and a couple of extra T-shirts and socks; a sleeping bag; flashlights, including one on head gear for night running; a compass; and one of the most valuable items, toilet paper.

“They provide you with a hole in the ground covered by a tarp for the bathroom,” laughed James, but toilet paper is a commodity the runners must supply. Running out, Tara learned, is a source of aggravation when begging it off of her brother.

A tent is the only other item supplied by the race coordinators.

Along with the intense heat, the Atacama Desert included hills and salt flats that were difficult to traverse.

“It’s like walking on a dried out coral reef bed,” James described, while Tara likened it to walking on deep, soft snow and sinking in, “Except it is sharp and cuts your legs.”

Many more, and far steeper hills were the challenges when the pair crossed the Gobi Desert in mid-June, as well as finding footing on terrain covered in fist-sized rocks.

Both Tara and James believe that the Sahara, in October, will be more of a mental challenge as they take on a course of constant sand and monotonous dunes.

“We’ve always been good in terms of mental toughness, though, I think,” said Tara, from past athletic experiences.

“They say, go as far as you can, then go further,” said James.

Their competitive natures will help them, going forward, they said. “We push each other,” said Tara. “Neither of us wants just one to finish a race.”

Despite brother and sister “moments” that led to some bickering in the tents, the siblings are probably closer than a lot of brothers and sisters, because of this experience, they said. “We actually don’t see a lot of each other when we are home. We’re busy; we have our own schedules, and our own training programs. We do pick each other’s brains, of course, about training and that sort of thing,” said Tara.

There are many reasons for taking on the RacingThePlanet challenge, said James and Tara. Traveling to places they might not otherwise, and in a situation that lets them step back and appreciate where they are; and the community of ultra-marathoners are top reasons.

“Everyone is so genuine,” said Tara. “Everyone wants everyone else to finish, whether they are the top runners or way in the back,” she said.

There is also the high of finishing the seven-day ordeals. “You are so excited to finish,” James said. “There’s nothing like that feeling when you’re sipping that cold Coke — not water, for once — and tasting that first cheeseburger.”

“When you finish, you sort of feel invincible,” Tara added. “You forget the pain and misery.”

And there is plenty of pain and misery beyond the terrain and weather, they said. Foremost is foot health.

“You will lose a toenail,” predicted James. “People have blisters, and the skin just peels off their feet.” He believes that his regimen of taping his feet each morning and using hydropel, a Vaseline-like substance, as well as tending to blisters as soon as they appear, has kept his feet in decent condition. Both Tara and James swear by the wool, wicking socks that they wear, as well.

Charity is another reason that propels them on. Tara said she is racing for a charity that benefits her school, although she has not yet pinned down which one. James will raise money for muscular dystrophy when he steps onto the Sahara Desert in October.

Until then, both will continue to train, and return to a somewhat normal life. Tara will be in school, and James, who has taken off two years from pursuing his math/economics degree in order to race, will serve on the Newtown Board of Finance, a seat to which he was elected last fall, and volunteer with Newtown Hook and Ladder.

It may be hard to duck out on medical school for two weeks in October and again in November, when they travel to Antarctica, said Tara, but she will make it work.

“I think,” she said, “this will be one of those life experiences I won’t regret.”

To donate to James’ muscular dystrophy fund, visit www.joinmda.org/JamesGastonformda2012/swimjim11, or visit his Facebook page, Deserts For Dystrophy. Tara’s Facebook page is currently under construction. To support Tara’s charity, search Tara Gaston.