Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In April this year, I will be taking part in the 32nd Marathon Des Sables (MDS). The MDS is a foot race across the Sahara Desert over six days, covering a total distance of around 250km (that’s about 156 miles in old money). The organisers generously provide a Bedouin tent and water, but apart from these, participants are self-sufficient and have to carry everything else as they race. In addition to the weight of the kit, there will be some other factors to consider: 50°C heat; mountainous sand dunes; a battle to stay hydrated; and a few scorpions and spiders.

Now, I’m not offering to literally take you with me, but as my training schedule ramps up I’ll happily keep you informed of how it’s going, what’s hurting the most and what it feels like to be doing 20 mile training runs in the cold of winter. And then, when the race comes around, boom! I’ll give you details of the MDS site so you can track my progress and maybe watch some webcam footage of me stumbling across a checkpoint. I might even do the Mo-Bot for you!

While I chose to enter the MDS for the personal challenge, I always knew it would be too big not to hang some fundraising on and have spent a bit of time considering which charity to support. My choice is to raise funds for Cancer Research, which might seem to be one of the more obvious charities. Unfortunately, cancer continues to affect all of us and resonates strongly with my family at the moment, which made Cancer Research an easy choice for me to support.

All I ask in return for the enjoyment of watching me push myself to my physical limits, is a small donation to Cancer Research.

This is undoubtedly going to be a huge challenge, but to add another degree of difficulty; I am also a relatively new (and very proud) dad of a 3 month old little girl, Ellora. She announced her intention to arrive in the world after I had secured my place and will be six-months old when the race comes around.

Spending the time away from her and her mum is not going to be easy for me, however, knowing that I have raised some cash to support research into cancer, will make it much easier to bear. Thanks all x

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