THE CHALLENGE

The Marathon des Sables has been described as the toughest footrace in the world. The 151-mile course is run over six days in temperatures of up to 50C. A third of the route must be completed in a single day, an agonising 50-mile stage. The 750 competitors are self-sufficient, carrying all their food and kit for the week on their backs. The only exception is water, which is strictly rationed and handed out at checkpoints.

THE CHARITY

Noma is a gangrenous infection that eats away at the faces of its victims - almost exclusively malnourished children living in abject poverty. Without treatment with relatively simple and inexpensive antibiotics, an estimated 90 per cent of sufferers die. But, arguably, it is the remaining 10 per cent who are the real victims, forced to endure a life blighted by horrific facial disfigurement, in which they are unable to speak or eat properly and are ostracised by their communities. Noma is preventable and the disfigurement it causes can, to a life-altering extent, be corrected. This is the work of Facing Africa (www.facingafrica.org), the charity we are supporting.

THE TEAM

Duncan Craig, 30, a journalist, and Blake Roseveare, 31, an insurance broker, met at school in Dorset nearly 20 years ago and now live in a shared flat in Clapham, South London. Not ones to shirk a challenge, their participation in the Marathon des Sables was sealed with a drunken handshake following the chance viewing of a documentary on this brutal event two years ago. They have set themselves the target of raising £20,000 for Noma sufferers (see above) through their efforts. To read their not entirely respectful profiles of one another, click here for Duncan, and here for Blake.

SPONSOR US

To sponsor us online and see the list of donations already made on our behalf click here for our sponsorship page.

Links

• Gigalum
• www.saharamarathon.co.uk - More information about the MdS (you could run it too!)
• www.facingafrica.org - Helping to cure and prevent NOMA
• www.darbaroud.com - The organizers of the MdS
• www.bestofmorocco.co.uk - Tailor-made trips to Morocco (marathon not compulsory)