Lee Greenwood was a one off, a special man who was loved by everyone lucky enough to know him. We lost Lee, aged 48, after a very short fight with cancer.

Lee was my best friend and in his honour and memory, I will compete from April 9-15th 2017 in the "Marathon Des Sables". Billed as the worlds toughest foot race, I'll aim to run over 156 miles, including the infamous "long stage", a 52 mile ultra-marathon, carrying the weeks worth of food, bedding, equipment, weighing approx 8kgs, over 6 days in the hostile environment that is the Sahara desert, where temperatures will reach 50 degrees. Wearing the same kit all week, no showers, only eating what you've carried, rationed water supply, scorpions, snakes, 30% steep mountains to climb, sand dunes to run up/down - 1,500 competitors will start and every year 20%+ fail to finish. I have put a link at the bottom of this note so you can read more about the size of the challenge ahead of me.

All I ask is to urge your friends, family and indeed, yourselves, to dig deep and raise money for this fantastic charity, Male Cancer Awareness Charity (MCAC). Rather than money be raised on ineffectual research, MCAC ensures 100% of funding is used to make all men aware of the importance of early detection and that "no man should die of  embarrassment". For every young man who we make aware, we are potentially saving their life by giving them the knowledge of what to look for and then what to do next.

My desert challenge will push me to places I have never been, dark moments I am sure of huge doubt and fear, but nothing to those I am sure our best friend Lee went through. That is where my strength will come from and knowing you have taken time to raise money yourselves and donated, will fuel my desire to make Lee, my family and you guys, proud of me and become part of a small number to have ever completed this race.

I'll bring that medal home for Lee

Thank you so much in advance 

Andy

#MDS4LEE (let's get this trending!) 

http://marathondessables.co.uk