If an ultra marathon wasn’t hard enough already

Local doctor Deborah Barber doesn’t shy away from a test.

So when she decided to take on an ultra-marathon through Chile’s Atacama desert crossing in 2019 after running just two marathons, she ended up crossing the line in first place.

Returning to the ‘Racing the Planet’ ultramarathon series in May, she took on a new challenge as she raced 250km through the Namib desert.

“You do four marathons over four consecutive days and then the longest march, which is 80km in the final day.”

Add in a heavy pack, with the race self-supported, and you have a recipe for one of the hardest races in the world.

Deborah says weight was such a big factor that she tried snapping her tooth brush in half to save those extra few grams.

“You have to carry everything but your tent.

“Carrying full food for the week, which meets certain calorie requirements, a list of mandatory equipment, and you have to leave each drink station with at least 1.5 litres of water.”

And with some of the hottest days on record for the race, with temperatures soaring into the mid 50s, she says it was a true test of grit and determination.

“I’d be running down big sand dunes and I’d be sinking into the sand up to my knees.

“Every evening I’d have a dune full of sand in my shoes,” she laughs.

Deborah says the race was like running on the beach for days, which she wished she had done more training of before heading over after signing up for the race in December.

Her main concern was her 11kg pack, which didn’t help with sinking into the soft sand.

As an experienced, but self-described casual runner, she says blisters were another big thing you can’t avoid.

“For me, it’s trying to burst them as soon as possible to avoid the pressure build up.

“The less you do the better. I see people wrapping them all up, but they often are just creating another point to create more blisters.”

But despite the tribulations, Deborah was the first female across the finishing line to defend her title from five years ago.

She met her husband, Garry Walker, running when they were both in Greenland’s Polar Bear Challenge, a one-and-a-half marathon race.

He also ran in the Namib desert race, but travelled home before Deborah after they spent time decompressing from their race and being tourists.

Having already made her way to Africa, she stayed on to volunteer in a remote lifeline clinic.

She says it’s hard to tell what was more physically and mentally taxing, working with the marginalised local indigenous community or racing an ultra marathon through the desert.

“It was eye opening and heart breaking and everything in between.

“We packed a lot into our five weeks.”

Deborah, who works locally as a locum GP, says it would have felt wrong to travel all that way with her background and not contribute.

As for another ultramarathon through the desert, she says it might take some time to build back up to wanting to do that again.

But she and Garry do have their eyes set on a race in the Antarctic.

“It’s an opportunity to meet people from all over the world. To do a run like that attracts a certain type of person.”