Latest news with #MarathondesSables
Belfast Telegraph
7 days ago
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
NI man tackles famous seven-day marathon in Sahara desert to raise funds after son's life-threatening diagnosis
A Lisburn man recently completed a 250km Sahara adventure to raise funds for the BHF after his son was diagnosed with a heart condition Darran Cusick undertook the Marathon des Sables to fundraise for the British Heart Foundation after his teenage son Ashton was diagnosed with a heart condition. Travelling the world through his work, and being used to working in extreme temperatures for 20 years means Darran was well used to the sun when it came to his ultramarathon participation.
Belfast Telegraph
7 days ago
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
NI man completes gruelling desert marathon to raise funds for British Heart Foundation after son's life-threatening diagnosis
A Lisburn man recently completed a 250km Sahara adventure to raise funds for the BHF after his son was diagnosed with a heart condition Darran Cusick undertook the Marathon des Sables to fundraise for the British Heart Foundation after his teenage son Ashton was diagnosed with a heart condition. Travelling the world through his work, and being used to working in extreme temperatures for 20 years means Darran was well used to the sun when it came to his ultramarathon participation.
Morocco World
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
2026 Marathon des Sables: Registrations Open for ‘the Hardest Foot Race on Earth'
Registrations opened on June 11 for what has been dubbed 'the hardest foot race on earth,' a grueling 250km ultra-marathon through Morocco's Sahara desert. The Marathon des Sables (MDS) Legendary event is a 6-stage ultra-marathon race, with competitors racing 20 to 80km each day across the harsh desert terrain. The MDS Legendary race is a 11 day event, with 9 days in the Sahara desert and 6 days of racing. Competitors may run or walk the race, each trying to get to the end to claim the title of 'legend.' MDS is conducted in self-sufficiency, requiring competitors to carry their gear and food, while water and tents are supplied by the organisation. The race occurs in April where temperatures in the desert often fall between 15 to 30 degrees celsius. Racing through the desert across the sand dunes and rocky paths, contestants of the MDS Legendary are battling more than just intense heat, with wind, sandstorms and rain occasionally breaking up the monotony of the clear blue skies. This year celebrates the 40th edition of the classic MDS in the Sahara desert. The race will take place between April 3-13, 2026, with registrations for the event opening on June 11. MDS Legendary brings together participants from all corners of the globe, from seasoned runners, to your everyday adventure junkie. Past competitors have described the mood at camp as jovial and full of camaraderie. Everybody is out there to achieve something great, running for themself, a family member or a charity. Each day is a new chance to push the boundaries of what the human body can do. Past edition of MDS The2025 MDS Legendary saw approximately 1200 competitors and a 95% completion rate. This is higher than prior years, likely due to changes in the way the race is managed like the introduction of stock cubes for rehydration, cold water for cooling, and the elimination of water rationing at checkpoints throughout the race. Rachid El Morabity was the fastest male competitor, securing his 11th title in the time of 20:55:47. Meanwhile, Maryline Nakache reclaimed her 2023 crown as the fastest female, in a time of 23:57:20. The fastest competitors averaged overall speeds just over 12km per hour. This is incredibly speedy to have traversed 250km through the dunes of the desert, and the races are only getting more competitive. MDS advises that the average speed of the racers is 5.5km per hour, with a minimum cut off time of 3.5km per hour. In 2025, the slowest competitors took about 75 hours, covering closer to 3.3km per hour. While plenty of athletes return each year to race this grueling ultra-marathon, many others are there to undertake an adventure of their lifetime. One 2025 competitor said that ever since she had discovered the MDS, she had been determined to complete it. Another was racing her 15th MDS all while battling cancer. Others claim to be running for their partners and their children. Every competitor has their own motivations and their own story. While running an ultra-marathon across the Sahara desert is undeniably hard and painful, each competitor is proud to have achieved something amazing, with many claiming it is the 'adventure of a lifetime.' The number of runners enrolling in marathon and ultra-marathon events has increased exponentially over the past 20 years, following the increased visibility of marathons and ultra-marathons in media around the world. With more and more competitors each year, registrations for MDS and other running races are becoming more competitive.
The Herald Scotland
07-06-2025
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Former Kilmarnock player tackling jungles and deserts to help daughter
The former midfielder has made his peace with the fact that his daughter will never date a boyfriend, never get married, never have children or find an escape from the 50 different symptoms associated with a debilitating illness. The one thing he can't accept is the impotence of sitting around, doing nothing. His solution is extreme in a very real sense. To raise money for the Reverse Rett charity, 56-year-old 'Mavis' completed the infamous Marathon des Sables over seven days of gruelling heat then finished third in the 230-kilometre Ultra Marathon in Peru last year. On Saturday he tackles the 104-mile Ultra Scotland event between Dalry and Melrose and while his fundraising efforts have contributed over £100k to the search for a cure, the benefits to his own state of mind have been equally undeniable. 'I always say to people that Dionne's condition has given me some unbelievable life experiences and made me realise what's important in life,' he tells Herald Sport. 'Ordinarily I would have never have done the events I've done. Subconsciously I think it also became a substitute for me for the loss of football as well. I played for 21 years and from the age of 22, I started to train every day as if I was contesting a World Cup final.' He retired from playing for St Mirren in 2006 and found coaching an unfulfilling experience. Managing two Subway stores in Coatbridge and Bellshill failed to fill the void left by professional football. In 2008 the credit crunch came along and swallowed up the profits. A neighbour flagged up a recruitment drive by Police Scotland and, after 15 years on the thin blue line, he accepted a role with a London-based charity supporting survivors of human trafficking. His work provides a constant reminder that everyone has their crosses to bear. 'Dionne was 11 months old and there was no sign of crawling or walking before she started refluxing and being sick 20 or 30 times a day,' he recalls of the period when he realised his daughter was ill. Regular visits to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and Wishaw General failed to come up with a conclusive diagnosis. A breakthrough came, unexpectedly, during a family holiday in Florida when he googled neurologists and found one 30 minutes away. Costing £800, tests and blood samples came back showing that Dionne had a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder which affects the way the brain develops. Primarily found in females Rett Syndrome causes a progressive loss of motor skills and language. Reverse Rett is a research organisation focussed on delivering treatment to sufferers. While they can do little for Dionne in the here and now, Reilly's quest for a future breakthrough has brought some startling and unexpected life experiences. 'Originally I started doing the events to raise awareness for the charity and for Dionne,' Reilly explains. 'But through that I discovered that I was getting something from it as well. 'You can never replace the adrenaline of playing on a Saturday, but the illness gave me a purpose and incentive to keep fit and healthy and switch from a team event to seeing how far I could push myself.' He began modestly with a Glasgow 10k in 2012 before moving on to the Three Peaks Challenge, spanning Ben Nevis, Scaffel Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales over the course of 24 hours. A formidable challenge to even the toughest of mortals, Reilly was convinced to go higher, harder. Read more: Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m chance, training-ground plan and the Black Knights Stephen McGowan: Is Dermot Desmond absentee landlord or Celtic mastermind? Incorporating a 2.4-mile swim in open water, 112 miles on a bike, then a marathon, Iron Man events offered an immediate challenge. He couldn't swim and hadn't cycled since the age of 10. Signing up to a swimming club and purchasing an aluminium bike for £500, he completed two Iron Man events before setting his sights on the legendary Marathon des Sables, a 160-mile ultramarathon held every year in the Sahara Desert. 'There was a freak heatwave and the temperatures were almost 60 degrees centigrade every day,' he recalled. 'A French competitor died on day two and one of my tent mates suffered a cardiac arrest. He was dead for two minutes before they managed to bring him back.' Even a brutal test of endurance failed to tick off all the boxes on the bucket list to end them all. Last year he ran 230 kilometres through the Amazon Jungle in Peru and finished third. 'Prior to the year I did it, only 15 per cent of the competitors finished it,' Reilly explains. 'Day two we hit the jungle and day three was incredible. We went through a protected area where less than 50 westerners had ever ventured. 'One of the reasons for that is that they have a protected species of bat, with only six of them left on the planet. 'We stayed that night with a small indigenous tribe in the jungle. Only 12 people in the whole world spoke the tribe's language. You would put your hammock up and sleep dangling between a couple of trees.' His Just Giving efforts have now raised over £60,000. His autobiography and other initiatives bolster the tally to something in the region of £100k and on Saturday he plans to raise the tally a little more by completing 104 miles and four marathons on the Southern Upland Way between Dalry and Melrose in the Ultra Scotland race. It's a long way from his old, distant life as a professional footballer with Motherwell, Killie, St Johnstone and St Mirren. 'I was at Killie 11 years or so and I had my best memories at Rugby Park, winning the Scottish Cup. But I hardly watch any games on TV these days,' he says. Gathering dust in the attic, he gifted his Scottish Cup jersey and medal away to a diehard Kilmarnock fan and gave a Kaiserslautern jersey acquired after a UEFA Cup defeat in 1999 to a roofer working on his home. 'The experience and the memories sustain me more than souvenirs,' he explains. 'Going down John Finnie Street with the cup and seeing people happy is what I think of. 'Kilmarnock still ask me to do the in-house TV channel and the truth is that I barely know the players. I loved my career and gave it everything and I don't know if subconsciously this is just the way I cope with the loss of that, but I couldn't tell you the last live game I was at or the last 90 minutes I watched on TV. 'I love my boxing now and if you gave me the choice now of watching the Champions League final or a big title fight, I'd watch the boxing.' Mark Reilly will complete the Ultra Scotland race today (Saturday 7 June 2025). To support his fund-raising efforts for Rett Syndrome research visit
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Colonel Jangvir Lamba completes Ironman 140.6 triathlon in Taiwan; adds to his string of elite endurance feats
BENGALURU: Colonel Jangvir Lamba of the Indian Army conquered the Ironman 140.6 triathlon in Penghu, Taiwan, one of the toughest endurance races in the world, on April 13. Competing in the 50-54 age category, the 53-year-old officer completed the race in 14 hours, 53 minutes and 34 seconds. The Ironman 140.6 includes 3.8 km of open-water swimming, 180 km of relentless cycling and 42.2 km of marathon running- all in a single day without a break. A fourth-generation officer in the Indian Army, Col Lamba hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan, and currently serves at the ASC Centre (South), Bengaluru. Known for his discipline, his journey from being a professional bodybuilder to an accomplished endurance athlete has inspired many. His past achievements include titles like IRONMAN 70.3 Goa in November 2022, Asia-Pacific IRONMAN Championship, Cairns, Australia in June 2023, IRONMAN 140.6 Langkawi, Malaysia in October 2023 and Marathon des Sables, Morocco in April 2024. A 253.5 km multi-stage ultra marathon through the searing Sahara Desert, often termed the world's most brutal footrace. Col Lamba was formerly a national level bodybuilding judge with the Indian Body Builders Federation and has undergone transformation from sculpting physique to testing the extremes of human endurance, proving his relentless drive.
