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About us

Having both graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2004 we found ourselves caught up in the world of full-time employment, the Marathon des Sables seemed like a challenge.

This challenge/stupidity also presented us with an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of kids affected by cancer and their families all over the UK by fundraising for CLIC Sargent.

The magnitude of what we had decided to take on gradually begun to sink in. We have a massive task ahead of us, both in terms of training and fundraising, but we both put in a lot of hard work and made serious progress. With a bit of determination and the right attitude we knew that anything was possible…even the MdS.

James Corrigan

James Corrigan. James Corrigan is currently working for (one of our sponsors) Dragoman Overland an overland adventure tour operator based out of Suffolk.

In Autumn 2004 I caught the end of Ben Fogle's documentary "The Sand Marathon", and was totally captivated. I did a bit of research into the Marathon des Sables and the more I learned about this formidable event, the more I felt strangely compelled to do it.

After bringing up the prospect of entering for 2006 with Elson over a few beers in January 2005 - the decision was made that we would take it on - why not? A marathon session in the pub was much more our specialty rather than actually running them - let alone six - in the Sahara. But we weren’t exactly that unfit and the prospect of squaring up to the challenge of "the toughest footrace on earth" seemed too exciting to pass up. The hangovers quickly faded but our enthusiasm for doing the MdS didn't and within a week our £500 deposits were in and our names on the list – there was no going back.

James Elson

James Elson. James 'Hero' Elson works as a high-flying Sales Executive in London for ClearChannel.

Before getting places in the Marathon Des Sables, neither of us had run more than about 5 miles. That may sound pretty ridiculous I know, but both of us put in a serious amount of training since getting our names on the list at the end of January 2005.

By April 2006 we were heroic enough to take on the mother of all endurance races.