In April this year, I will be running the Marathon des Sables (“the toughest foot race on earth”) in aid of The Children’s Heart Federation. The event covers 250kms/155 miles, (one stage being over 80kms long, throughout the night) run over 7 days - equivalent to 6 regular marathons back to back. I will have to carry everything that I need to survive (food, clothes, medical kit, sleeping bag etc), apart from a tent, for the 7 days on my back, with my rucksack weighing up to 15kgs. Water is rationed and handed out at each checkpoint.

I will have to prepare all my own freeze dried food throughout the race and will experience mid-day temperatures of up to 48°c, running or walking on uneven rocky, stony ground as well as 15 - 20% of the distance being in sand dunes. There are time limits for each stage and if the camels “Charles and Camilla”, that are walking at the exact minimum pace required, overtake me I am out of the race.

Mental stamina and attitude are considered to make up 50% of whether I will complete the distance or not. I am not the fittest (although 30 weeks of training has certainly seen me get pretty fit), nor am I the best equipped, but what I do have it stacks of experience in life that have given me a tough attitude and very strong will...some might say stubborn but I think that is going a little far :-)

Any sponsorship, not matter how large or small, you could offer to the Children’s Heart Federation will help motivate me through the tough moments.

Every year 1 in 133 babies in the UK are born with a heart condition. Having a sick child in a family is not only distressing for that child but for parents and siblings. Constant visits to the hospital for monitoring and testing are stressful to the child and all of the family, disrupting family life and bonding (I grew up in a family with a sick child and know firsthand the impact this can have). Just £670 can provide a blood monitoring machine and training that will enable a child to be tested at home, dramatically reducing the number of distressing visits a child must make to the hospital.

Currently there are 18 children on the waiting list for a blood monitoring machine. If I can help even one of these children, it will be just as rewarding as completing the 250 kms. 

Thank you.