Gobi Desert:
The Gobi March takes place in the Gobi Desert of northwest China. The Gobi is the world's largest cold winter desert, made up mostly of mountains, rocks, grasslands, salt flats and sand dunes. At 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square kilometers) it is nearly twice the size of Texas and sprawls across much of China and Mongolia. The Gobi (Mongolian word for "waterless place") certainly lives up to its name with less than three inches of rain falling each year.

Gobi March competitors can expect a diverse landscape including: slot canyons, salt flats, rivers, mountain ridges, rocky terrain and sand dunes. Competitors will witness local nomadic Uygur, Kazak and Mongolian tribes living as they have for thousands of years. The course is abundant in wildlife such as rare horses, camels, eagles and even gazelle.

The weather in the Gobi can be very extreme so competitors must be prepared for a wide range of conditions. Competitors in the Gobi March 2005 experienced snow patches at the beginning of the event followed by days that reached well over 32 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Farenheit). Competitors should also be prepared for violent sand storms and strong winds that are prone to hit during April and May.

Atacama Desert:
The Atacama Crossing takes place in the Atacama Desert of Chile which is known to be the driest place on Earth and is also the world's largest cool coastal desert. The Atacama Desert is 15 million years old and is the location for many high tech astronomy centers for leading educational institutions in the world. It has the most lunar-like landscape on Earth and is frequently used by NASA to test its Mars rover vehicles. The Atacama lies at 1.6 kilometers (one mile) above sea level and competitors will more than cover the distance required to make a horizontal crossing of the country of Chile (average width is 113 miles or 180 kilometers)

Atacama Crossing competitors will cross through freezing glacial rivers, hundred-foot slot canyons, mountain passes, vast crusty salt flats and lunar like valleys. The stunning scenery is enhanced by the snow capped volcanoes that loom in the distance.

The Atacama Desert is 50 times more arid than California's Death Valley and is virtually sterile because it is blocked by moisture on both sides by the Andes and the coastal mountains. During July the daytime temperature can reach highs of 40 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) and drop below freezing after sunset.

Sahara Desert:
The Sahara Race takes place in the Sahara Desert of western Egypt, the world's largest subtropical desert. The Sahara Desert is one of the world's more forbidding deserts. The Sahara is located in North Africa, the West portion of the broad belt of parched land that extends from the Atlantic Ocean eastward past the Red Sea. The entire desert, the largest non-polar desert in the world, is about 1600 kilometers wide (1000 miles) and about 5000 kilometers (3125 miles) long from East to West.

Sahara Race competitors can expect a land of contrasts: rocky mountains giving way to gold, red and white sand dunes, stony expanses, the occasional palm-filled oasis and dried-up river beds where oleanders grow. Two thirds of Egypt lies in the Sahara Desert which 8,000 years ago was a fertile land populated by elephant and giraffe.

Egypt is one of the hottest and sunniest countries in the world. The heat of the Sahara in Egypt is fierce and there is almost no relief from one day to another, however very low humidity makes the heat a little more bearable. Temperatures can fall rather abruptly at night so that desert evenings can be quite chilly and strong winds and sandstorms are not uncommon.

Antarctica:
The Last Desert is an epic expedition and it is the first event of its kind in the Antarctic continent, the world's largest polar desert. Antarctica is the world's most isolated continent comprised of vast mountain ranges, ice sheets and ice bergs. Only 1% of Antarctica is free of snow and ice where streams and lakes have formed. Competitors in The Last Desert will pass research bases, penguin colonies and witness the remote beauty of Antarctica in 24 hours of daylight. Skis will not be required, but snowshoes will be an option.

From Punta Arenas in Chile, invited individuals and teams will make their way to King George Island via a small aircraft. Upon arrival, there will be a vessel or "floating hotel" that will be used as the ground refuge for seven days. The three stages equaling 250 kilometers (150 miles) will be run in three separate locations which have been chosen taking into consideration safety, the environment, diversity and the landscape. Competitors will be transferred by Zodiacs in the morning and evening.

Antarctica experiences the strongest winds on the planet, which can achieve velocities of up to 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) and blizzards and whiteouts are quite common. The UV factor is very high and the sun reflects off the snow, ice and sea so sunburn can be severe if no precautions are taken.