In April 2019 myself, James Benamor & Kelly Black will take on our biggest challenge to date. Named by the Discovery Channel as "The Toughest Footrace on Earth", but more commonly known as The Marathon Des Sables, or MDS. It's a gruelling 6 day ultra-marathon covers a total of 248km (154 miles), in the most inhospitable environment on the planet - the Sahara Desert in the south of Morocco.

In 6 days we will complete an equivalent of almost 6 marathons, over challenging terrain, including a mix of saltpans, dried river beds, rocky plains, miles of sand dunes (some reaching 1000m in height) and it isn't uncommon to experience the occasional sandstorm as well! During the day the temperature will exceed 45C, an environment no training in the world can truly prepare you for. 

Further to this, the MDS is also a self-sufficient race, meaning that along the 248km route we must carry everything, except water, that we will need to survive for the week. Also, the 6 stages are not broken down equally. The first stage may only (only!!) be 15 or so miles, however, the 4th stage is always dubbed 'The Big One,' and typically equates to a double marathon in a day, averaging around 50 miles. 

To try and explain the event to UK residents the organiser offers this breakdown - It's like running from London to Dover, deciding not to go to France after all, and running back again, in 55C, with a backpack on.

We are not taking this lightly! April 2019 is a long way off, enough time for us to physically and mentally fully prepare for the race, but more importantly is it is plenty of time for us to fundraise and reach our ambitious, but achievable target of £12,000 for Cypress School in Kenya to help them start their second phase of rebuilding brand new classrooms as we have done a few months ago.

Please support if you can and rest assured that donating through JustGiving is simple and totally secure. Your details are safe, they'll never sell them on. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to Build Africa. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cuttings cost for charity.

My promise to you, is to complete the Marathon Des Sable.