Gianluca, give us a sneak peek: What did you think of the Oxyburn technical gear?
Great—just as I expected, if not even better. The long socks and the shirt are top-notch—soft, lightweight, and breathable…

Okay, okay… now stop and let’s start over from the beginning: who is Gianluca Barbero in everyday life?
I’m a bank employee who wants to debunk the myth of the sedentary, overweight banker over 40: I’m 42 years old, and I’m heading toward 43! I live alone, and I love nature in all its forms. My passions, besides running, of course, are cycling (I competed for fourteen years before taking up running in late 2007) and hiking in the mountains (my biggest dreams, after the MDS, are to climb legendary peaks such as Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and Mount Ararat…). I also enjoy watching basketball live (I’m a former referee, and I root for Auxilium Torino, which, alas, is last in the A1 league) and ice hockey (Valpe, short for Valpellice, the local hockey team that gave us the joy of winning the Coppa Italia this year).

When and why did you decide to participate in the Marathon des Sables?
The Marathon des Sables is the race I’ve been dreaming of my whole life. I love combining sports and adventure, and this is the event that best brings those two aspects together. After achieving my goals at classic distances (my personal bests in the marathon and half marathon date back to 2014: in Turin for the marathon with a time of 2h46’37” and in Ulm, Germany, for the half marathon with a time of 1h18’29”) and secured an overall victory at a major event like Macerata (I won the 10km Stramacerata), in 2015 I extended my distances by completing a 6-hour race (covering 69.268 km in Turin) and a 100-km race (the 104 km Tuscany Crossing Trail with 3,200 meters of elevation gain) in preparation for an even greater challenge this year with the upcoming MDS…

Why choose Oxyburn for your materials?
I chose Oxyburn products based on a recommendation from a friend who had tried them and spoke very highly of them. I’ll be wearing a technical race kit (shorts and jersey) with specialized technology designed to keep my body as cool as possible: the extra-light short-sleeve jersey, Level 1 compression knee-highs, a buff, arm sleeves to use during the long stage that will end at night, and long-sleeved technical base layers to best cope with the cold desert nights…

What do you fear most about this race? The heat, the distance, the sand, thirst, mental resilience…
These are clearly all things to be afraid of… and I’d also add the rocky terrain we’ll have to navigate… But perhaps what I fear most is what to pack in my backpack. I believe packing it optimally is essential for success in the race, especially when it comes to food, since we’ll be self-sufficient for an entire week…

So tell us, what will your backpack contain? There are strict weight limits…
Packing my backpack is the aspect I’m focusing on the most in this final phase of preparation. Since this is a race where we have to be completely self-sufficient—except for water—we can’t afford to make any mistakes for an entire week. There are weight checks (the minimum is 6.5 kg without water at the start of the first stage; the maximum is 12 kg).

What’s the secret?
If you decide to prioritize comfort, you can bring more things with you, but the problem is that you have to carry them on your back for every stage. If, on the other hand, you focus on bringing only the bare essentials to be more agile during the race, you run the risk of not having with you something that could turn out to be essential…

So, what will you choose?
My backpack will contain: an ultralight sleeping pad, an ultralight sleeping bag, a paper jumpsuit (the classic jumpsuits used by decorators; very lightweight yet warm), technical base layers, a Saharan-style cap, sunglasses, sunscreen, skin antiseptic, a venom-extraction pump (by the way, there’s a constant risk of getting stung by scorpions!), a survival blanket, a mirror, a spoon, a camping stove, a stove stand, a lighter, solid fuel for starting a fire, food, recovery supplements, a buff, arm warmers, a hygiene kit…

How do you prepare for a race like this, and how far in advance do you need to start preparing?
You really feel a race like this deep down… I feel like I’ve been preparing for it my whole life; I feel like it’s MY race… In terms of my specific training, I’ve been gradually increasing my distances since December, running more and more often with a backpack and gradually increasing its weight. I’ve planned two training camps on sand (in late December in San Vincenzo, Tuscany, and last week in Sant’Anna Arresi, near Porto Pino in Sardinia). I’ve also taken advantage of the snow over the past few weeks—snow is the type of terrain most similar to desert sand. From a competitive standpoint, I’m planning one more long run at the Ultrabericus in Vicenza on March 19, a 66-km trail race with 2,500 meters of elevation gain.

What will you eat during the race?
Good question: Right now, I think I’ll start the day with tea and whole-grain cookies, plus Grana Padano and a protein bar for breakfast; a gel during the race; a bar, plus taralli, more Grana Padano, and post-race recovery supplements; and some freeze-dried food in the evening…