Hi, thanks for visiting my page.

I am now back from the desert, having completed the Marathon des Sables in one piece - coming in 439th out of about 800 starters. It was the longest & apparently hottest MdS there has been in the 23 years it has been going. On the second day, the temperature reached 52 degrees and  most days it was 45.

I ran the MdS in memory of Lt Alex Tweedie, who died from injuries received in Iraq in April 2003 while serving with D Squadron The Blues and Royals, Household Cavalry Regiment. I went to school with Alex & we were housemates in the 2nd and 3rd year of university. I also ran my first marathon (London 2002) with him.

Having discussed it with Alex's parents, we decided that Help for Heroes (www.helpforheroes.org.uk) would be a very good cause to raise money for, as it helps servicemen and women who have been wounded in the recent fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, including other soldiers from Alex's regiment. (You can read more about the charity by clicking the link above).

The Marathon des Sables is a stage race, run over 6-7 days across 150 miles (~240km) of the Sahara Desert - it is called by some the Toughest Footrace on Earth. Apart from a tent and water, we had to carry all our provisions (food, sleeping bag, clothes etc etc) ourselves - the bag weighed about 15kg at the start of the race.

Thank you very much for helping out,
Ed