Expedition Foods is the official food partner for the Sahara Race 2014. Expedition Foods pioneered the concept of expedition foods by providing highly nutritious, flavorsome, easy-to-store and prepared foods and has built a reputation on quality, service and choice, boasting arguably the largest range of meals available in Europe. Expedition Foods' 800 Kcal range is the highest calorie to weight food available on the market. Expedition Foods' objective is to provide a mix of traditional meals with dishes from around the globe. The diverse menu, which appeals to all tastes, is coupled with continual innovation and product development.

The Sahara Race 2014 will be a truly international event with over 40 nationalities expected to be represented. To welcome each and every competitor, we make sure that we fly the flag of every competitor's nation at the start and finish lines of each stage. Our flags are handmade by a traditional sailmaker, Mr. Poon, who lives and works in Hong Kong. Mr. Poon is a master in his trade, having originally been trained to make sails for junks that used to ply the South China Seas.

A course team works around the clock to mark all 250-kilometers of the course. The team uses small pink flags to make the route as visible as possible.  Competitors must follow these flags from checkpoint to checkpoint.

RacingThePlanet uses up to 2,500 glowsticks to mark the Sahara Race course at dusk and throughout the dark hours of night. The glowsticksguide the way for competitors during The Long March, offering maximum light while withstanding the heat and other harsh elements of the desert.

Checkpoints are spaced at approximately 10-kilometer intervals, with the final checkpoint of the day being the finish line and campsite.  At each checkpoint, competitors are supplied with 1.5 litres of water  as well as shade and a place to rest.  Once all competitors have passed through the checkpoint, it is dismantled.  No trace of the checkpoint is left in the desert.

Volunteers are carefully selected from around the world to ensure a variety of nationalities, language abilities, fitness levels and general experiences working in challenging conditions. Approximately four volunteer applications are received for every available position. View our Sahara Race 2014 volunteer team.

On each stage two volunteers help sweep the course. This involves walking at the back of the pack and making sure that all competitors have passed through the checkpoints safely.  At the Sahara Race 2014, the sweepers will be supported two true desert survivors, the mighty camels!

Volunteers and staff will also be roving the course at each stage. This involves walking or riding in a vehicle between checkpoints and camp.

The Sahara Race uses more than thirty 4x4 vehicles which support the entire event including staff, volunteers, medical teams, media personnel and checkpoints. The drivers of the 4x4 vehicles are some of the best desert drivers in world, each with decades of experience driving in the Sahara Desert. A special characteristic of the Sahara Race is the ability to place checkpoints and campsites in remote, soft sand areas.

RacingThePlanet employs a team of local Egyptian staff on the ground, many of whom return each year to be part of the Sahara Race. They provide invaluable local expertise and the manpower necessary for keeping the event moving each day and the camps working without hitch each evening.

Tents used in the Sahara Race are handmade in Cairo using all Egyptian cotton. The tents are used by competitors, staff, media and medical personnel. Tents will also be made in Egypt for other 4 Deserts events in the Atacama Desert of Chile and the Gobi Desert of China.

During the Sahara Race competitors receive and send emails, write blogs and check daily results from the Cybertent using ruggedized laptops that are capable of withstanding the elements of the desert.

A signature of a RacingThePlanet event is the campfire: Each campsite has a handmade fire managed by two locals with wood that has been carefully transported to the desert. Water is boiled and kept hot for cooking meals and making warm drinks. The campfire also serves as a heater in the morning cold, a central meeting point for breakfast and dinner meals, and for simply shooting the breeze after a long day.

Sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, an oasis appears with water. If you're lucky, the Bedouin are enjoying the shade of the oasis and playing beautiful Bedouin music.

Competitors who successfully complete each every stage of the Sahara Race 2014 will receive a medal at the finish line in front of The Pyramids of Giza.  RacingThePlanet specially designs the medals and has them manufactured in Malaysia which is renowned as having the world's best pewter.

Catering to the needs of more than 200 people in the Sahara Desert and making sure that we leave no trace of their presence is an important part of putting on the Sahara Race. Fortunately, our competitors are overwhelmingly attentive to this matter and make this task as easy for us as possible. We institute a system of time penalties for any competitor seen littering. Sweepers also follow behind the final competitors removing course markers and remaining litter from the ground.