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I am clearly spending too much time around people who consider running not only for the bus, but as a replacement for public transport between towns and even across continents.

The spirit of madness has afflicted me to such an extent that I signed up to the 27th edition of the Marathon des Sables, not only as a personal challenge, but to also raise as much money as I can for Help for Heroes.

The Marathon des Sables (MdS, Marathon of the Sands, or Sahara Marathon) is a 6-stage, 7-day, 250 km (156 mi) ultra-marathon, which is the equivalent of six regular marathons. Stage 4 is known as “The Long Day”, usually measuring 80 km (50 mi). This multiday race is held every year in southern Morocco, in the Sahara desert. It uses the tag line of the “toughest foot race on Earth”. The first event was in 1986. I must carry all my personal belongings and food for the entire event in my backpack. Water and tents are supplied by the organizers.

To follow my progress:

There is some mention of transponders being given to competitors to provide live monitoring capability, but as yet this is unconfirmed.

During the event, I will only have a  limited window to send one email each day. If interested in receiving this email, subscribe to the following Google group:

http://groups.google.com/group/ak-mds/subscribe

or shoot me an email (andy_kinney@hotmail.com) and I’ll invite you to the group directly.

The organisers will print email sent to me during the race, but ONLY through the official web site:

http://www.darbaroud.com/index.php?lang=en

Look for a ‘contact competitor link’ then follow the instructions using my full name and competitor number (Andrew Kinney, 459).

If not already, you can friend me on facebook (andy_kinney@hotmail.com) to read reports from lead-up races, such as the 2-day 66mile Pilgrim Challenge with temperatures of -9C, 3 inches of snow, and frozen toilets.

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