When you tell people that you are going to run across a desert for a week dressed in a rhino suit they tend to ask 'why'?  Good question.

The raw facts are - 150 miles (250km) across the Atacama desert in Chile, broken down into stage each day ranging from a gentle 10 miles to a rather more taxing 50 miles.  Also, you have to carry all of your food, kit and bedding for the week, although the good people organising it provide handy water stations along the way, and put a basic tent up for you every night (provided you make it to the end of the stage).  And the temperature in the desert during the day rockets to around 40 celcius and then plummets to below freezing at night.  And the terrain is rough, with the course being up to 14,000 feet above sea level.

So where does the 7 foot, 20lb rhino suit come in?  Well, the rhino suit is the most famous costume used in the London Marathon and has been used in many events around the globe (but never before seen in South America).  It represents the charity Save the Rhino.  Roughly half of Save The Rhino’s money is spent on local communities.  The aim is to ensure the survival of the rhino and its habitat and to help encourage local communities to live and work in harmony with their surroundings.  The other half is spent on policing, employing locals to work in protecting this endangered beast.

Now that I've explained it, I feel sure you'll want to join in, and there are still places available, so come and join us!  If not, your words of encouragement are welcome, but most of all any donations will be hugely appreciated and i'm sure will help to alleviate any hoof-pain the poor rhino may be suffering.  All of the money that you donate goes to Save the Rhino where it is much appreciated and put to very good use.

thanks, Stephen