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I am embarking on a 1st for Britain in that i will be the first person in the UK to attempt this challenge, please read our story........... I wish to raise money for our Centre in memory of his late partner, Carla Saunders. They have pledged to raise £30,000 for Carla’s Garden which will be an important therapeutic requisite to the Centre. Carla passed away in August 2009 at the age of 33 having suffered from Lung Cancer, leaving 2 young children. Tremaine wishes to fundraise to the extreme!, and is taking part in the 4 Deserts Challenge (www.4deserts.com). He will become the first Britain and the third person to ever complete all 4 deserts within the year. The 4 Deserts is a series of four six-stage, seven-day-long rough country footraces across some of the most inhospitable deserts on Earth. Participants must carry all the food and equipment they need to live on for the seven-day event. Only a space in a tent, drinking water and a camp fire are provided (and access to a medical team). Each race is 250km long with the final race being The Last Desert, held in Antarctica.
To qualify for the last race, one must have successfully completed 2 of the other 3 races.
The races are purported to take place in the hottest, coldest, windiest and driest places on earth. In 2008, TIME magazine designated the 4 Deserts Series as 2nd in it’s top 10 list of endurance competitions.
Carla, who lost her fight against cancer in August of this year, was well used to the extremes of Tremaine’s life. Until he retired in 2008, Tremaine - or Trig, as he’s known to friends - was a member of the UK’s Special Forces. By his own admission, he’s lived a “hostile” life.
But since Carla passed away, 40-year-old Trig has dedicated himself to helping others through Carla’s Angels - the charity he set up in her memory. His attempt to complete all 4 Deserts events in a single year is aimed at raising £30,000 for the charity’s first project – creating a garden at the new palliative care centre in Great Yarmouth’s James Paget University Hospital.
“My life’s been about destroying things,” says Trig, half jokingly. “Now I want to do something positive.”
Only experienced ultra runners Dean Karnazes and Paul Liebenberg have completed all 4 Deserts events within a year, but after a professional life spent operating beyond normal physical and mental limits, Trig remains undaunted by what lies ahead.
“It’s going to be spiritual,” says Trig, who begins his 4 Deserts endeavour with the Atacama Crossing 2010. “I’m going not just to race, but also to meet like-minded people. I want to really feel like I’m living and experience some parts of the world I’d never normally get to see.”
Trig knows it will be brutally hard, but thoughts of Carla and the support of all her family and friends will keep him going. He’ll also have the company of fellow Great Yarmouth runner, Owen Beales.
“The last year of Carla’s life was all about her giving gifts to everyone,” adds Trig. “The gift that she gave to me was the chance to give something back to life after years of taking from it. One thing I’ve got is my health and I can use it to benefit others. Life is for living and if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything.”
More information on Carla’s Angels can be found at www.carlas-angels.com
So please dig deep and donate now.
