About the Marathon Des Sables
The MdS is a 6 day / 230km endurance race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco, normally taking place at the end of March / beginning of April.
During this time the competitors (myself included!) have to carry all food, cooking equipment, survival equipment, etc over ground ranging from sand dunes to uneven rocky ground in temperatures upto 120°F.
Why I'm running the Marathon des Sables
Running for Rehabilitation in Ripon and Ethiopia
David Jelley, local physiotherapist and Fast Response Team Leader, is training hard to run 150 miles across the Sahara Desert. The famous Marathon de Sables (Marathon of the Sand) starts at the end of March and lasts for 7 days. Nearly 1000 runners take part in this race across the desert. “The hardest part of the race is that we have to be self sufficient - food, sleeping bag, clothing, medical supplies all have to be carried on our backs”. . “ I have already run about 600 miles with the pack in training but it still feels very heavy and I am currently spending hours weighing items of food and trying to reduce my pack to the minimum weight possible.”
Mr Jelley is running to improve rehabilitation services both in Ripon and in Africa.
“We are so lucky in Ripon to have a Community Hospital where we can offer rehabilitation to a wide range of people. Trinity Ward enables older people to regain their confidence and strength after an accident or an illness. The Physiotherapy Department has great staff and equipment to provide rehabilitation to the young and old. The Fast Response and Community Rehabilitation team can deliver rehabilitation to people in their own homes to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions or to help get people out of hospital sooner. But we do depend on the League of Friends to help us buy specialist equipment. Last year the League of Friends bought a state of the art machine to test and train people with balance problems. At £7000, we could not have purchased this out of our yearly NHS budget - so help from the League of Friends was essential.”
Mr Jelley also wanted to provide some support to Rehabilitation in areas which are less well off. “I heard about a small rehabilitation Unit near Addis Ababa in Ethiopia called “Refuge under the shade of the Acacia Tree” while I was in Cowan and Morgan's my Opticians in Westgate. Michele de Vaal who is Vision Aid Overseas representative for Ethiopia has made a number of trips to The Acacia Rehabilitation Centre in the south of Ethiopia. The Physiotherapist there does not even have enough sticks and crutches, so I thought that a small amount of support from the people of Ripon would go a long way. For example just £200 would buy enough wood to make crutches for over 200 people. There are still many children and adults in this region who are affected by Polio symptoms of weakness and paralysis and simple walking aids and callipers can make a huge difference to people's lives.”
Mr Jelley will be circulating sponsorship forms to local GP surgeries and Ripon Hospital, but if you want to sponsor him directly please ring 603506 (evenings) or send donations to him c/o Ripon Hospital.
Links
- www.saharamarathon.co.uk - More information about the MdS (you could run it too!)
- www.facingafrica.org - Helping to cure and prevent NOMA (official charity of the MdS in 2003)
- www.darbaroud.com - The organizers of the MdS
- www.bestofmorocco.co.uk - Tailor-made trips to Morocco (marathon not compulsory)