On 4 April 2013 we will be flying out to Morocco to take part in the Marathon Des Sables.

The MdS (dubbed the “Toughest Footrace on Earth”) is a multi-day ‘ultramarathon’ run in six days over a course of approximately 150 miles (250km).

Each participant must carry everything they will need for the duration of the race in a back pack weighing an average of 10kgs including; food, clothes ,medical kit, compass, stove, anti venom pump (!) and survival supplies as well as sleeping bags etc. Participants will intake up to 4000 calories a day in order to fuel the physical demands.

Daily temperatures range from 40-50 degrees Celsius, with water distributed throughout the stages of the race. Each contestant receives an average of 10 litres a day. On the “The Long Day” (see below) competitors are given a “generous” 22 litres of water.

The route across the Sahara Desert varies from year-to-year, with the final route held in secret until the day before the event starts (apparently with an “exciting” new stage for 2013). However the race always consists of 6 stages and is typically broken down as follows:

Day 1 – 16 miles (25 km) – warm up! 

Day 2 – 21 miles (34 km) – slightly longer warm up!

Day 3 – 24 miles (38 km) – Dune Day... lots of sand to run up and down!

Day 4 – 50 miles (82 km) – The Long Day... enough said (please think of us on this day)!

Day 5 – 26 miles (42 km) – Marathon Day

Day 6 – 13 miles (22 km) – Fun Run!

There is a rest day after the longest stage however, due to the heat and terrain, for some unlucky competitors (up to half – almost certainly including us) it may take them well into the next day (i.e. running through the night or sleeping on the course) before they get to the finish. At the end of every day competitors stay overnight in a tented village, comprised of bivouacs that sleep about 8 competitors each.

Training for the MdS “officially” began back in November 2011 and as our family and friends will testify it has been a long hard road with thousands of training miles covered, hundreds of energy drinks and gels consumed, blisters burst and toe nails lost!

Since we commenced training we have completed a number of events as part of our training including the Wokingham, Plymouth and Reading Half Marathons, Belfast Marathon and Jersey “Round The Rock” ultramarathon (48 miles of lovely coastal paths)! Our last planned event before we leave for the desert is the Country to Capital ultramarathon (45 miles) on Saturday 12 January 2013. Please feel free to come and support us if you are in London on this date.

We were looking for ideas on how to best use our participation in the Marathon Des Sables to raise money for a worthy cause. As we met and discussed the many options, we realised that we kept coming back to one very basic idea - no one can live without access to clean water. Clean water is something that is easily taken for granted and freely accessible for many of us on a day-to-day basis (albeit ironically not for us in the desert). We have thus chosen to raise money for The Water Project and are excited about this cause and hope you will join us!

Whilst cost and project availability vary, on average a village sized water project can be completed for between $7,000-$10,000, with a well for a school or medical clinic costing between $19,000 and $30,000 – hence our target of $25,000.

The costs include preparing the community for a water project, actual construction and the long-term monitoring and evaluation needed to make sure your donation turns into a long term investment that lasts a very long time.

The Water Project is an excellent organization, with over $1.2million raised to date and 143 wells completed. They have a process that includes working with local residents and evaluation of the project after it's complete.