THANKS FOR STOPPING BY...
Thanks for visiting my website. I've set it up to help me attract sponsorship for what's probably going to be one of the crazier things I'll do in my life time. In a moment of lunacy I thought it would be a good idea to enter the 2009 Marathon Des Sables. For those of you who haven't heard of the MDS, it's a 243km run/jog/walk/crawl over six days across the Moroccan Sahara. It's broken down roughly into the following distances over the week; 25, 34, 38, 82, 42 and 22. In between stages I'll have the luxury of passing out in a Berber tent which is the only bit of kit I don't have to carry. The rest, a lot of which is compulsory and checked by the organisers (www.darbaroud.com), food, sleeping bag, stove, fist aid kit etc comes with me on my back. Water is supplied and divided up strictly between checkpoints which are at intervals along each stage route. I'm told temperatures will reach into the late 40's Celsius and the terrain will vary between, hard stony ground and sand dunes. Nice! From what I've heard my feet will be ripped to shreds and then I'll have the pleasure of having them poked at in the medical tent. Can't wait!
It seems there are plenty of nutters ready to inflict suffering and pain on themselves for a week. In the 2007 event 750 people registered from 32 countries. The youngest was 19 and the oldest was 70.
So why, in the name of the wee man, am I doing it? Well, it's something that's been nagging me for a while now and will certainly be the experience of a life time. If I didn't at least give it a go I'd definitely regret it. The other reason is that it's a great way of raising money for charity. I'll be running/jogging/walking/crawling for Scottish International Relief (www.sircharity.org) and raising funds specifically for a project run by them called Mary's Meals. Mary's Meals is a school feeding project operating in Malawi (where I grew up) as well as other countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. It's currently feeding 200,000 thousand of the worlds poorest children, at the same time encouraging them to attend school. It only costs £5.30 to feed a schoolchild in Malawi for a year. Have a look at their website. So, if you fancy you can sponsor me here or just follow my blog and send some support my way. I'll need it!
TIM'S BLOG
The toughest footrace on earth
Wednesday, Jun 18 2008An excerpt from www.saharamarathon.co.uk. Sums it up better than I could. "It covers 243km/151 miles (in sections similar to 25, 34, 38, 82, 42, 22 km) run over 6 days (7 for some) - equivalent to 5 1/2 regular marathons. That's a speed of between 3 and 14 km an hour for competitors aged between 16 and 78). In addition to that, competitors have to carry everything they will need for the duration (apart from a tent) on their backs in a rucksack (food, clothes, medical kit, sleeping bag etc). Water is rationed and handed out at each checkpoint. You will have to prepare all your own food th...more
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Tuesday, Dec 25 2007
Hi All
Tuesday, Dec 04 2007Thanks for visiting my blog. I've finally started training after the initial shock of settling in to uni life. I haven't sorted out a training regime yet but will do so once I've got my fitness levels up a wee bit more. I'll also start entering events which you'll be able to monitor here. I'd be grateful if you did and left the odd message of encouragement to keep me going. It's going to be hard!
