Introduction

Hi all

In just over a week I will be leaving sunny Cayman for the sunny Sahara Desert in order to run the Marathon de Sables. Quite a few people have asked if I will be doing this as a sponsored event, so I have decided to raise funds for 2 charities:

1. Help for Heroes, back in the UK. Anyone in the UK who wishes to sponsor me for ‘Help for Heroes’ can do so via www.justgiving.com/rebeccalillywhite.

2. The Cayman Islands Cancer Society, here in Cayman. Anyone here in Cayman who wishes to sponsor me can send me a pledge via email, and I have set up a separate Butterfield account for this purpose to receive funds: Lillywhite – MDS2009 for CICS, account number 02-201-124510-00. The total in this account when I return from the race will be donated to the Cayman Islands Cancer Society.

Some more info about the Marathon de Sables:

The MdS 2009, taking place from Sunday 29th – Saturday 4th April, will be the 24th annual running of the event which covers approximately 154 miles across the Sahara Desert in 6 stages. In recent years the race has been dominated by the Moroccan Ahansal brothers, with Lachen Ahnsel winning 8 out of the last 10 years, and his brother Mohamed winning 2.

The exact distances and routes change each year, with competitors only finding out the current year’s course once in the start location. But as a guide, Stages 1, 2 and 3 are usually 18 – 23 miles each, Stage 4 is a fun-filled 50 mile leg, Stage 5 is a marathon (26 miles), and Stage 6 is a 10 – 12 mile dash to the end! The terrain is a mixture of rock and sand, sometimes mountainous, sometimes flat, and then there are those dreaded sand dunes and possible sandstorms to contend with!

Competitors must be self-sufficient, carrying everything with them for the duration of the race – food, medical kit, sleeping bag etc… so it’s a challenge making sure you have everything you need whilst keeping your pack as light as possible. Water is given out in rations but if you become dehydrated during the race, needing an IV drip more than once, you will be disqualified. If people abandon the race, it could be from dehydration, severe feet problems, harsh weather, other medical conditions or not completing a stage in the time limit.

Each night is spent under canvas, sleeping in groups of 8, until it is taken down around us at first light to be trucked to the next location. As you can imagine there is a huge logistical effort required to support the event.

Follow my progress:

Each day a communications area is set up at the camp where competitors can use the marvels of modern technology to send one email per person from the desert. As long as I have the energy to stand in line for a computer I will send an email to a friend who will post it here and on my Facebook event page. (If you don’t hear from me, don’t worry, maybe I decided to have a little nap instead of queuing...)

I believe you can also log onto the official website to follow our progress http://www.darbaroud.com.

Send me a message:

Guess what?! You can even send me a message back… This service is available from 29th March – 4th April. Go to http://www.darbaroud.com and look for the section ‘write to competitors’. (You will probably need to select the language as English first by clicking on the flag at the top.)

IMPORTANT – in order to reach me messages must be addressed to:
Lillywhite, Rebecca #681. Also, messages must only contain plain text; no uploads etc…

The organisers will print out the messages and deliver them to me each evening. I’m sure it will be great to hear from you!