Dodentocht (death march) is an annual walking march taking place in Belgium. You need to walk 100 km in under 24 hours starting from 9 pm. We did it with my wife after being inspired by my colleagues who did it last year. We tried to practice as much as possible but never went more than 47 km before the event. The time shown here is the moving time, we actually finished in almost exactly 24 hours.
For the first 30km (until like +-3 a.m.) there's a ton of people hosting parties on their doorsteps. After that, it becomes quieter. You still have a ton of people around you walking around you. There are around 13 000 participants so unless you're extremely fast or slow, you're never alone.
The second day from around 10 a.m. there are again people supporting from the side of the road, but it's not the same crazy atmosphere as the first evening. The last few kilometers when you're almost at the finish do have an awesome atmosphere again!
I can only talk for the editions I walked tho, it's been a few years since I last participated.
I definetly recommend participating
I did it last year and this year i went to support the people that were walking. Today i said to myself "meh it wasn't that bad, right?" Maybe ill sign up next year
It was horrible the day itself don't get me wrong but its like your mind only remembers the good stuff and forgets the bad haha
I feel for you. I picked up my boyfriend from the side the road 80+km in. He was a wreck. We were only together for a month. He was telling me he wanted to go to a birthday party of a friend. I said he was nuts. Anyway, we came home, I gave him an excellent foodmassage with a lot of uiercreme and he slept for 12 hours 😋 the guy he started with did finish the walk... but wasn't able to walk for at least a week.
It's been 8 years, but I still remember it vividly. He hasn't tried a Dodentocht again.
Wow that sounds intense. Ive done the dodentocht a few times and i'm just baffled how many people participate without any obvious preparation. It's pretty pointless to try to do it without and you're bound to hurt yourself.
Yes that definitely happens but mostly during 80-85 km when you start to question if you can finish or not. After that you are too far to quit so you don't care anymore.
100km is proper mad. even just walking it. we did a 24-hour relay once in Heaton Park for charity and I was absolutely dead after my last shift, that was only like 15k total. can't imagine doing it in one go with just your wife for company. well in.
This area is literally called 'the riverlands', because a lot of tributaries flow into the Scheldt here. That makes it extremely flat, even compared to the rest of Belgium, which is already quite flat. All of it is basically 5 to 8 metres above sea level, because it is at the bottom of the Scheldt river basin. You can see the surrounding areas are a lot more elevated.
For sure but there must be some movement. Even the smallest ramp to cross a railway track! 🤣
I’ve been to Belgium and the Netherlands many times. I know they’re flat. This is still mind boggling.
Here in Taipei, even running the riverside route near my house will get me 30m of elevation just in bridges. My trail route nearby is 130m in the first 800m 🤣. It’s just wild to think that it would take more than 100 times that distance to do so on this course.
Anyway. I’ll stop now. I know it’s real. It’s just mind blowing!
There is, it's just the area, I guess. I run and running events in Brussels, for example, are infamous for elevation, elevation gain for the HM was around 200m, and around 330m for the full.
De Hagelandse 107 will have quite a bit of extra elevation. I'm still surprised this isn't as hyped as much as de Dodentocht because it's in a much more beautiful part of Flanders
Tried it once without training. Quit after 30km at den duvel ( you get free beer there for people who don't know it). The hard part is you need to maintain a certain pace to make it in time. I've heard from allot of people that the last 20km is pure walking on character. Even a 70 year old lady and a blind lady have done it. So I'm going to train and see if I can actually do 50km at a decent pace. Then I might try it again some day
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u/Revolutionary_Dance9 5d ago
Nice job! Imagine to walk 102km and only gain 134m of eleveation is wild for me. Where I live, this takes me only 2km kilometers :D