In early April I will set off to Errachidia in Morocco with a friend to compete in the 28th Marathon des Sables, a six-day, 150 mile ultramarathon equivalent to six regular marathons.

The Marathon des Sables is widely acclaimed to be the world's toughest footrace as it involves vicious terrain. Think salt plains, stoney Hamada desert and sand dunes of up to 150m high with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. All entrants are self-sufficient and I will carry all my provisions for the 6 days on my back. 

I have chosen the charity, Future Hope, a non governmental organization in India where I worked for 6 months in 2007. It is a school for under privileged children and orphans in Calcutta, established by Tim Grandage in 1987, and its numbers have now grown to 250 pupils, with 5 residential homes. The children benefit enormously from the outstanding care, academic and sporting education, and I am very proud to be supporting them.