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My story

 

I have now completed the Sahara 2009 Ultra Marathon - 159 miles/250 km in 5 days across the Desert!

Whilst working in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for 2 years, a fantastic place in a troubled part of the worId, I became friends with the Rahman family, climbing Iraq’s highest mountain for charity with Sirwan Rahman and competing in the first ever Kurdistan 10K race organized by the Salah Rahman Sports Foundation.

The Salah Rahman Sport Foundation (run entirely by volunteers), a UK registered charity www.salahsports.com, was established in memory of Salah Rahman, who lost his life to terrorist action on 1st February 2004 in Erbil along with his father, Sami Abdul Rahman, and 96 others.  Salah, a dedicated Millwall supporter, would have welcomed the initiative to promote sport at a grass roots level among the boys and girls of the Region, helping schools that have no or poor sports facilities, and offering coaching and support for kids, teenagers and adults who love sports but don't have access to playing them.  

That was without any doubt the most physically demanding, spectacular and satisfying challenge I have ever taken on. The Sahara is a stunning place, every mile looks different and the weather is something else, it actually hit 49C on the 3rd day and then rained for 10minutes in the evening…

 

Daily routine on the race; Wake up at 6am, try and shake some life into my aching legs, then get some breakfast ready, consisting of dehydrated high calorie meals and a much needed coffee. Then begin taping up my slowly deteriorating feet, which looked scarier each day! Final prep before the days running includes preparing electrolyte and energy drinks for the first stages and finally packing all my kit into the backpack, mine weighed about 13kgs.

 

Racing started at 8.00am and until 10.30am, the temp was usually 30-35C, so a chance to go at a fair speed before the temp really gets up. Tired limbs take a while to ease and warm up and then you are cruising! Through the middle of the day, the aim is to keep your heart-rate and sweating as low as possible to avoid cooking and keeling over, whilst keeping the speed up; so you slowly jog on the firm flats and ‘tab’ up the dunes and on soft sand averaging 6km/h.

 

Out here in the heat, soft sand, carrying kit and accumulating 6 marathons in 5 days, my average marathon time was approximately 8hrs, so I usually finished a day’s running at about 3pm. Then it was recovery time; feet admin, replacing calories and lost electrolytes and trying to have a wash with severely rationed water, so mostly wet-wipes! Then there is a chance to talk to other competitors about the day and console folks who have dropped out of the overall race through injury or not meeting the cut-off times, before getting some much needed sleep.

 

The big day (54miles) was something else and was much the topic of conversation amongst racers throughout the week leading to it. There was an option to stop at certain checkpoints to cook food and sleep, though your time carries on ticking, therefore I decided to go non-stop apart from 1 lengthened admin stop to change socks, fix feet and load up on calories; it is a race after all...

 

Much the same routine at the start of the day though the race begun at 6am, running fast in the early stages, then slowing it down during the heat of the day; the first 25 miles came by with relative ease in 8hrs, then my legs decided to seize up slowing me to a medium walk by late afternoon and a much needed admin stop. After fueling up, more tape on feet and a change of socks, I was in better shape and begun the run into the sunset (not romantic) and darkness; like anywhere with little ambient light (and the desert does not disappoint), the night sky is incredible with stars reaching down to the horizon, keeping me going into the night. By 10pm, 16hrs into the stage with about another 3hrs to go, energy was ebbing and the pain flooding, though with a good Ipod play-list and plenty of Ibuprofen I kept the speed up and made it across the stage finish line at 01:20am, after 19hrs20mins of racing and utterly exhausted, though in complete awe of the achievement.

 

The final stage a ceremonial formality running 2km through the Pyramids of Giza to the finish line after 6 days and 159miles of running, in an accumulative time of 50hrs04mins, placed 49th out of 127 Competitors. What an experience; incredible, would I do it again in another desert? Absolutely not!

 

The financial target for the Salah Rahman Charity is getting so close, thanks to the great generosity of the numerous donors, so now that I have broken myself finishing this race, please could anyone who intended to contribute but has not yet got round to it or who might now wish to reward the achievement as opposed to the mere intention, click this link and donate, Thanks;

 

http://www.justgiving.com/SaharaDuncan/

 

P.S Pictures of the race can be found on

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanbarber/

Donation by Glos.Chickens 10/11/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Well done Cuz!! Great achievement!!! Donation by Chris Anderson 10/11/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Duncs, A great achievement. Well done you. Loving those gaiters, satorial elegance in the desert! Simon Donation by Simon Ward 09/11/09  

£40.00 + £11.28 Gift Aid

Duncan, you never cease to impress us. Good man! Donation by Your greatest fan! 09/11/09  

£200.00

Well done Duncs. I hope your feet are in a bucket of ice now. Will Donation by William James 09/11/09  

£40.00 + £11.28 Gift Aid

Brilliant - well done. Donation by paul gummer 05/11/09  

£40.00 + £11.28 Gift Aid

Just wanted to make sure you finished...! Excellent work, well done. Donation by Paddy Lord 05/11/09  

£25.00

Amazing anyone could run so far under such harsh conditions – voluntarily! Powerful demonstration of physical strength,determination &generosity. Donation by Dawn 05/11/09  

£200.00 + £56.41 Gift Aid

A fantastic achievement. Well done! Donation by Simon and Judy 04/11/09  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

You seem to have mislaid your camel Donation by Richard Hayman-Joyce 04/11/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

magnificent achievement, well done Donation by Tim S 04/11/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

Well done Duncan!!! Sterling work!!! Particularly liked the feet photos!!! Donation by James Whitehouse 04/11/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

congratulations, your absolutely crazy but what an achievement Donation by Anna Kinnersly 03/11/09  

Well done, a fantastic achievement for a fantastic cause Donation by Thomas Hardie-Forsyth 03/11/09  

£100.00

Donation by Anonymous 03/11/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

Congratulations!! Donation by Dominique Jones Freudiger 03/11/09  

£20.00

It puts my half marathon over the weekend into perspective. Good show. Donation by Jonathan Winn 03/11/09  

£10.00

the Desert, map reading an (ex)army officer...What could possibly go wrong... Donation by jeremy hay 21/10/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Yallah Yallah ya Achee! inta majnoon. Good luck old boy feed off the pain and work hard on the hills! Donation by Jelfy (Snr) 21/10/09  

£60.00 + £16.92 Gift Aid

Good Luck! You know all the sweat, sand and sore feet will be worth it in the end! Call in when you are back in Devon it would be great to catch up. Donation by Claire R-W 20/10/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid

Run like the Scirocco! (Or is it the Ghilbi?) Like the wind anyway....best of luck old bean! Donation by Bill Clark 20/10/09  

Sounds like a complete and utter nightmare to me duncs...good luck and see you in Dubai soon i hope.Ed Donation by Edwin Lawrence 20/10/09  

£100.00

As easy as it sounds there will be tough times ahead. I once broke down and had to walk to get petrol 3k away, so I know how hard it's gunna be! x Donation by tom baker 20/10/09  

£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

Best of luck Duncan. Donation by Christian Phillips 15/10/09  

good luck - sounds amazing what you are doing Donation by Pamela Ganjavian 13/10/09  

£5.00

Really nice and very brave :) Best of luck! X Donation by Mercedes Lopez 13/10/09  

£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid

It's an honour to take you over the £1000 mark! And I still think you're mad...go Duncan go! Donation by El jefe 13/10/09  

£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid

Best of luck with your run Duncan. Salah was a dear friend of mine and what you are doing for the charity is unbelievable. Donation by Alexander Mahdjoubi 13/10/09  

£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid

Handy navigation/survivial tip: head towards the three tall pointy stone buildings sticking out of the desert. Donation by Mike Earle 11/10/09  

£50.00

Run Duncster, run! Uber impressed! All the best and look forward to seeing the photos. Love Lizzie and Patrick Donation by Lizzie Clifton 04/10/09  

£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
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