The Gobi Desert Marathon went ahead as planned on Sunday 21st September, at a start point more in the middle of nowhere than you could possibly imagine....it'd taken quite a bit of traveling to get there. The morning was bitterly cold and windy following several very hot preceding days. The entry list was small; 16 in the full marathon drawn not only from Mongolia but from across the World including Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and USA... quite a few of whom were working in Mongolia already. I was the only Brit there.

With only a few roaming bactrian camels as the cheering crowd milling around the start line someone said 'Go'. The first 5 miles or so were up and through sand dunes. This was pretty hard going, made slightly more difficult by the lack of way point route markers. The route over the next 15 miles was invariably a rough gravel-type desert track, with water stops every 5 miles. At the 20 mile point I was in 2nd place, where upon the course steered into a dry river wadi consisting of very soft sand for a steady 3 mile loop. I  managed to find another gear at this stage and got myself ahead of the American in the lead....I didn't look back as the course wound uphill onto a plateau towards the finish line atop the 'Flaming Cliffs'. The line when it finally came was even more unobtrusive than that at the start, but that mattered not a jot in comparison to the idea of a cup of tea.

Result: 3 hours 33 minutes - 1st place.

It was a ridiculously long way to go for a very short 5 day visit to the Gobi Desert....culminating in a pretty painful run.....but it was certainly worth it.

Thank you very much again for your generous support; the money has gone directly to the Army Benevolent Fund ~ The Soldiers' Charity. All up I raised just over £1,170 for them which is great.

Until next time.....

Tom Perkins