Cygnet’s Head of Education raises over £4K for charity with seven day run across the Sahara

Well done to our Head of Education, Ed Hall, who has raised over £4K for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice after taking part in the Marathon Des Sables, a 150 mile foot race across the Sahara desert.

Ed, who leads Cygnet Health Care’s specialist schools for young service-users competed in the multi-day ‘ultra-marathon’ known as the ‘toughest foot race on earth’ with his twin brother Ben. The Marathon des Sables requires participants to navigate harsh terrain and blistering heat along the epic route, including a gruelling 50 mile stretch on the fourth day. In 2021, temperatures reached 58°C during the sand dune stage.

Ed started training for the event 18 months ago and up until that point had not run further than 5K. He also spent three weeks prior to the event training his body to withstand extreme temperatures.

Ed explains, “A local university agreed to let me use their environmental heat chamber to train at 100F, and advised how I could use saunas, layers and hot baths in between to supplement this. The event requires you to be self-sufficient and carry your own supplies such as food, water and sleeping equipment, it took a lot of research (and money!) to take the lightest equipment and supplies to keep the pack weight down to around 8.5kilos.”

The event lived up to its reputation as soaring temperatures and sand storms hit on day two but Ed hung on to cross the finish line on day 7, finishing in 160th out of over 1000 participants from all over the world. Ed’s brother Ben also did brilliantly to finish in 214th place. Their achievement is all the greater considering half of those who started the race were unable to complete it.

Ed and Ben were raising money for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and smashed their original target of £1000. Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice offers palliative care, family and sibling support, respite and physiotherapy for children and young people with a shortened life expectancy and complex medical needs.

Ed and Ben’s JustGiving page can be found here.

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