On April 7th I travel to Southern Morocco, where I will be taking part in this year's Marathon des Sables (MDS). The MDS is a 250km, self-sufficient footrace through the Sahara desert, consisting of six stages over seven days. Participants must carry everything they need to survive, other than water and a tent.  Visit the website here:

www.marathondessables.com

When the time comes you will be able to follow my progress in the race.

I’ve almost certainly bitten off more than I can chew here so will be setting myself the goal of simply completing the race. This will
very likely be the greatest physical challenge of my life. Prior to signing up for this I had no real running experience, making this challenge even more ludicrous.

As well as being a personal challenge, I have decided to take this on to help raise money for Hostage UK, an independent charity that supports hostages and their families, during and after a kidnap.  Please see below for further details:

http://hostageuk.org/about/

Back in 2003 my father, Alan Westwood, was kidnapped and killed in Mexico. I can therefore speak first hand of the devastating impact this sort of crime can have on the families of victims.  

Kidnapping remains a huge issue in Mexico, with some estimates placing the annual figure at 100,000. Most are never reported.

Thanks for visiting my JustGiving page. Please give generously for this worthy cause.

Many thanks,

Alastair