Marathon Des Sables 2008.

I made it! I just got home yesterday (Monday April 7th), and am settling back into a life with running water, flush lavatories, and fridges with real solid food. Here are a few photographs and video's for now, I'll be creating a full race diary and photo journal in due course. If you're interested in seeing the results page click here (runner 667).

<By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon images> <By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon images>


Video footage:

I have stitched together video footage from my week in the desert, that I took using my point and shoot camera. The video is a little bit long, but it's difficult to squeeze a week's long adventure into a short film, even heavily edited. There is a small and a large version to make it easy for all to watch, the footage is identical, just the quality different. Please let me know if you enjoyed watching it.
< Click do download large version.
High quality verison / 250MB / .mp4 format

Low quality verison / 50MB / .mov format

Duration 35 minutes.


Playable by quicktime, realplayer and most media players. You can download the free player here (download software here)



Before Leaving for the desert...


Since November 1st 2007, I've been in training for the 23rd Marathon Des Sables, a race across a 150 mile stretch of the southern Moroccan Sahara. MDS is a self sufficient ultra marathon over 7 days. I'll be carrying my own food, sleeping bag, medical supplies and clothing (click to read BBC article on last years event) ; I'll be issued with around 9 litres of water each day. At night, I'll be staying in a group tent with around 7 other people; the tents are setup for us by the race organisers. To find out more about the marathon click here to open the: official presentation (3MB)

<food> <Food packs 7 days>
<Gear laid out> <Running Pack>

Running for the Legion:

I decided to support the Royal British Legion, a charity who's work supports British service men and women, who's lives are impacted or lost whilst serving our country; through welfare programs and care homes, the legion provides for those in need from conflicts past and present. Click to read some facts about the Legion's work. Regardless of the politics behind the various conflicts, which we ask service people to go, and they're all too often forgotten. No money from my fundraising efforts, goes towards the cost of my trip or to me. I'm VERY grateful to all of you who have donated so far, and it's great to know that every mile I run will raise nearly £14 for the legion, which is a big mental boost, and brilliant to know that so many of my friends are backing me. Please help me support the Legion, I have setup a donation page:

Sponsorship page: www.bmycharity.com/MarathonDeSables.
Download my PDF sponsorship form.

I have raised £2,900 as of 27th April 2008.

Thank you

Thanks to the following people for sponsoring me, it really matters to me that you've backed me through this race, and I will be thinking about that when times get hard in the desert. Thanks for your support, and I will send a race report and photo's to all who support my race and the legion.

Mum
Lucy
Fergus Meehan
Fred Meehan
Andrew & Susan Meehan
Pete Clements
Tee Kamoshita
Suzi Ellis
Simon Tasker
Adam Robinson
Jez Coles
Colin Isaac
Paul Grimsley
James Fremont
Vaughan Vanniekerk
Simon George
Andrew Nilsson
Simon Parkinson
Przemslaw Maciuszko
Sankha narayan Biswas
Claudia Quintela
Jayesh Rajagopal
Perry Meyer
Allan Hall
Jeremy Kidby

Hannah Wakefield
Neil Titterington
David Sutherland
Jon Paxton
Michael Smith
Katherine Field
Emma Haywood
Ryan Williams
Louise Bennell-Dolan
Michael Smith (Antarctica)
Kara Tredway
Andrew Palmer
Alex Campbell
Max Jeffreys
Anne & Tom Meade
Mark Chappell
Margaret & Tony Farrell
Monica Rice
Eddie Windsor Clive
Paul Dawson

Stuart Murphy
Johanna Newhall
Roger Newhall
Richard Booker

Tim Hart

Paul Warren
Brenda Topliss
Sophie Harbord
Rachael McNally
Aaron Taylor
Sue Kovacs
Don Kern
George Neil
Waichi Wong
Joan Yi
Terry Guy
Al Bonney
Anne Bonney
Camila Jelly
Sarah Meade
Will Clyde Smith
Patrick Tame
Marion Redmond
Pam Fuller
Ian Davies
Bradley Morris
Nekhil Mistry
Louise Verrier
Mark Swords
Sharleen Beesley

Jason Ives
Brian Long
Rachel O'Neill
Ana Barosa
Michael Buckler
Francis Ciganek
Owen O'Reilly
Margaret Snape
Karen Pickup
Michael O'Neill
Gary Taylor
Sanal Kumar Chulliyot
Anne & Will Webb
Paul Denman
Adrian Meehan
Justin Steil
Martin Kelly
John Winston
Steve Crocker
Anthony Russo
Gregory Hilton






<By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon> <By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon> <By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon>
<By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon> <By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon> <By Mark Gillett, Junglemoon>
<Finish Line photograph>


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Authors: Photographs and page created by: James Bartosik.
Date of event: n/a
Page History: First created: March 22nd 2008. Last Revision: April 27th 2008. Revision version: 1.3
Camera and Lenses: n/a
Locations: n/a
Copyright: © Copyright material, all rights reserved