Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Thanks everyone, Marc.

The Challenge

The Everest  is a full marathon starting at Everest base camp (5,184m). One of the toughest marathons in the world, the start is reached after a 16 day trek through the . The weather can vary from + 20c down to - 20c and that's all before taking the extremes of altitude on the body into account. The oxygen levels at the start being around 50% of those at sea level.

This race is held every two years with a limited number of places (60 this year) being 'awarded' to international applicants.

I was offered a place last Christmas and have since covered about 1,100 miles in training.

The Charity

is among the five poorest countries in the world with 75% of the population living on less than $2- a day.  Many areas lack basic facilities like clean water, elementary education and medical facilities.  In over 20 years this race has raised over £400,000 for Nepalese charities, with projects ranging from school building projects, water and sanitation systems to leprosy hospitals, dental clinics and drug schemes.  The smallest of donations will make a difference.  So even in these tough economic times I am asking for your support, with a huge ‘Thank you’, for a very worthy cause where your contributions will make a big difference.

The full cost of organising and running the event is borne by the entrants so all the money that is raised goes to charity (so your not paying for me to go on a 'holiday' ) but the only money that goes to charity is the money we raise.

For more information go to http://www.everestmarathon.org.uk/everest-marathon-fund.html

As an aside, I would be the first son of Eireann to complete the race in over 20 years, the last Irish entrant was airlifted off the mountain before he even started. I want to do us proud up there and I hope you can do the same with your contributions. I'll be publicising this page as widely as possible so if everyone gave a little we should reach the target. If not, I get the experience of a lifetime and all the Nepalese get is a gangley Irish man running through their yak herd.

Please send this link on to any like minded charitable souls who may wish to contribute.

Many thanks

Marc

I'm going to keep this page updated with my training progress and Himalayan adventure as we go so please bookmark this page to see how I'm getting on.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity. (UK donations are also increased through Gift Aid being reclaimed on top of your donation).