:00:00. > :00:10.running 250 kilometres across six days, it's Racing the Sahara.
:00:11. > :00:13.Because everyone was about to run 81 kilometres, you would imagine there
:00:14. > :00:16.was a sense of trepidation, but there was a party atmosphere
:00:17. > :00:23.People were dancing around, I think people were kind of, to be honest,
:00:24. > :00:30.masking the fact they knew they had a very hard day ahead of themselves.
:00:31. > :00:37.I remember Patrick, the race organiser, suddenly saying
:00:38. > :00:39.someone's not feeling well at the start, at the front.
:00:40. > :00:49.Only later did I find out that some guy collapsed.
:00:50. > :00:56.It shows the level that people were pushing themselves to
:00:57. > :01:22.That sometimes their bodies just said no.
:01:23. > :01:27.I am a BBC journalist, and I have taken a couple of weeks holiday, and
:01:28. > :01:32.paid nearly $6,000 of my own money to take on this extreme challenge.
:01:33. > :01:35.And I am with some very good friends.
:01:36. > :01:38.Andy is a consultant, who lives in New York.
:01:39. > :01:40.Kind of perversely excited about trying to run 80 kilometres
:01:41. > :01:48.Os is a banker and he is from London.
:01:49. > :01:51.This is three leagues above the most extreme experience I've ever had and
:01:52. > :02:00.Something is telling me just to keep going, keep going.
:02:01. > :02:09.The toughest race on earth is run in a remote part of southern Morocco.
:02:10. > :02:14.We have six days to cover 220 kilometres across the desert,
:02:15. > :02:33.We and hundreds of other men and women from all over
:02:34. > :02:37.the world have spent the last three days traversing the Sahara desert,
:02:38. > :02:55.We have plodded over seemingly endless stretches of Sandy,
:02:56. > :02:57.We have plodded over seemingly endless stretches of sandy,
:02:58. > :03:15.15% of those who started the race won't make to it the finish.
:03:16. > :03:18.The man who created the crazy concept on a solo voyage through the
:03:19. > :04:03.In the first race, 29 years ago, there were just 23 people.
:04:04. > :04:12.Half way through our challenge, we are still struggling with the
:04:13. > :04:20.It is nice to wake up with the sunrise though.
:04:21. > :04:28.There is a lot of things about being here I am not enjoying.
:04:29. > :04:35.Rubbish sleep, not having enough tissues to blow your nose.
:04:36. > :04:40.Dirt under your fingernails, not having really enough food.
:04:41. > :04:43.Like the water never lasts me at night.
:04:44. > :04:46.They give you three one`and`a`half litre bottles, but I always finish
:04:47. > :04:54.The thousand`odd runners need 120,000 litres of water to
:04:55. > :05:02.The water is rationed, so we pick up our allotted bottles in
:05:03. > :05:07.the morning and evenings, and at the checkpoints along the race itself.
:05:08. > :05:09.We also have to carry all our clothes,
:05:10. > :05:15.The organisers ensure that every runner has at least
:05:16. > :05:23.But we want our rucksacks to be as light as possible,
:05:24. > :05:29.So far we have completed 112 kilometres in three days.
:05:30. > :05:36.But now we face our biggest challenge.
:05:37. > :05:51.We have to do two marathons in one day.
:05:52. > :05:55.No`one in our group has run more than 50k in
:05:56. > :06:18.So, I think there is a sense of trepidation.
:06:19. > :06:24.The 81 kilometre stage of the marathon will take us up
:06:25. > :06:27.mountains, over sand dunes, and along dried up river beds.
:06:28. > :06:31.And near the start, a beast of a mountain.
:06:32. > :07:21.The desert mountain has a 30% incline in places.
:07:22. > :07:32.We are 40 or so kilometres through the 81 kilometre Doubleday, and Will
:07:33. > :07:40.is dehydrating more than most. Good quite dizzy, and I went to the loo,
:07:41. > :07:49.and it was so concentrated it was almost red. Basically I am very
:07:50. > :07:57.dehydrated. I will feel better in a bit, hopefully.
:07:58. > :08:02.This is tough. Our other inspiration was each other. Running in a team
:08:03. > :08:10.gives you a clear advantage. I hope he is all right. Oz has been running
:08:11. > :08:14.with a bad knee. Will, Andy and myself push on. On our mind
:08:15. > :08:19.throughout the morning was the fact Oz had dropped back, he was a
:08:20. > :08:24.distance behind us, we had no idea how he was, we talked about the fact
:08:25. > :08:29.that we had gone on ahead and of course we felt a bit guilty about
:08:30. > :08:35.it. Our team of four is now a team of
:08:36. > :08:54.three. Oz is nowhere to be seen.
:08:55. > :09:00.The 81 throrm stage of our desert challenge will take all day, if all
:09:01. > :09:05.goes to plan, we will be going late into the night. But we still don't
:09:06. > :09:10.know if Oz is OK. Until Will and Andy arriving at a
:09:11. > :09:24.checkpoint, have a very welcome surprise. Really really tough. Oh,
:09:25. > :09:30.yes. Come on! How you doing? Amazing. I think I saw Andy gave him
:09:31. > :09:33.a big hug and Will and saw Tom, who passed through the checkpoint
:09:34. > :09:39.already. Probably my best moment of the marathon. The main highlight was
:09:40. > :09:45.on the long day, when we met up with Oz, who had dropped back, 30
:09:46. > :09:49.minutes, and we were hoping that he would catch ups, we went sure, we
:09:50. > :09:52.saw him at the checkpoint. That was the highlight of the week, it was
:09:53. > :10:01.fantastic, so we will be back together.
:10:02. > :10:07.Don't have the strength. Yes. Glow sticks for the night.
:10:08. > :10:12.Reunited we are soon running and walking into the night.
:10:13. > :10:16.You can only see obviously a few metres in groucht. You have your
:10:17. > :10:21.head torch on, you rely on the step of the person in front of you. There
:10:22. > :10:28.were moments of into the night of long day where my body was very
:10:29. > :10:32.upset with me. And I really had to resist the urge to stop, and sit
:10:33. > :10:37.down, and lie down for a little nap, for a bit.
:10:38. > :10:41.Another one of my favourite moments was the end of the long day, round
:10:42. > :10:47.midnight, when the four of us were lining up, we found some energy to
:10:48. > :10:51.jog in the last few k and coming out the darkness, seeing the finish line
:10:52. > :10:57.in sight was fantastic. 15 hours after we set off earlier
:10:58. > :11:09.that morning, the finish line comes into sight.
:11:10. > :11:20.Woo! That was fun! Well done. Well done. We did it Well done guys.
:11:21. > :11:32.Amazing. Sensational. Cheers. You feel like you are drunk, which we
:11:33. > :11:36.are not. At all. We are tired. You try to trick your body. You tray to
:11:37. > :11:50.kid your body that it's not tired but it's very, very tired. Yes. It's
:11:51. > :11:56.not the right word. You feel for the guys out there and they're bedding
:11:57. > :12:04.down for the night, four or five hours, getting up to do another 30
:12:05. > :12:11.it's k. `` 30k. It's so difficult to do that. Can't believe that, the
:12:12. > :12:17.furthest I ever ran was 24 miles, so after 41, which I actually thought
:12:18. > :12:23.about it was the first time on Tuesday, it was all new territories.
:12:24. > :12:29.Amazing. Feel brilliant. Now I want some food. The last two hours were
:12:30. > :12:32.the darkest for me. Tonight was a different experience. It was all
:12:33. > :12:37.right initially. Obviously, the novelty of temperature dropping was
:12:38. > :12:41.great, but the monotony of, for example, the last checkpoint, we saw
:12:42. > :12:47.it, miles off. It looked like it wasn't that far, but it just never
:12:48. > :12:51.arrived. Because you can't really judge distances in the dark when you
:12:52. > :12:58.can only see a bunch of lights in the distance. Today there were a lot
:12:59. > :13:03.of people that were struggling on the mountain particularly with lack
:13:04. > :13:08.of water and misjudging the heat. I gave one guy some water because he
:13:09. > :13:16.was just out and there was 5k still to go in the middle of the day.
:13:17. > :13:26.The next day is a rest day. Time to deal with the effects of a double
:13:27. > :13:36.marathon through the desert. I'm losing a nail. Doesn't look
:13:37. > :13:42.nice. For others, it's time to reflect on the brutality of the
:13:43. > :13:46.challenge. I'd been running already 18 hours and I knew I had three to
:13:47. > :13:49.go. My feet were so painful, I could only hobble. I had blisters
:13:50. > :13:53.everywhere. I could feel the blood in my shoes. At that stage, you know
:13:54. > :13:58.you have three hours, it's a long, long time when you're in such pain,
:13:59. > :14:01.but a running partner came along, we joined up together and then three
:14:02. > :14:05.hours later it was done and we walked through the dawn and over the
:14:06. > :14:10.finish line. Time to think about some of the desert stories of
:14:11. > :14:15.inspiration, like Mike who we share a tent with. The story is summed up
:14:16. > :14:19.in an e`mail I got this afternoon from my occupational therapist who
:14:20. > :14:24.saw me after I'd been knocked off my bike training for another event and
:14:25. > :14:28.I had a fractured skull and a stroke which meant I lost use of my left
:14:29. > :14:34.arm and left leg and I couldn't walk 100 yards. Her task was to get me to
:14:35. > :14:39.walk 100 yards in three months. I said, that's not quite what I had in
:14:40. > :14:45.mind" and here I am, 16 months later, done 220 kilometres. Last
:14:46. > :14:51.February, I was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia, I had to start
:14:52. > :14:55.chemotherapy, so each night I had to take chemotherapy tablets which kill
:14:56. > :14:59.off the red blood cells which makes me unsuitable for endurance events,
:15:00. > :15:03.so the doctors say! Our only contact with the outside
:15:04. > :15:09.world are the e`mails from friends and family which are printed off an
:15:10. > :15:13.brought to our tent every night. By dog this challenge, we are also
:15:14. > :15:18.raising money for two charities, one works to fight cancer and the other,
:15:19. > :15:26.Parkinson's disease. My dad has cancer, so does Andy ie
:15:27. > :15:34.fiancee's mum and his mum has Parkinson's. You link it to th other
:15:35. > :15:38.things going on in your life, to people that are undergoing treatment
:15:39. > :15:43.or have bad news and you start to convince yourself that you're
:15:44. > :15:47.running for that. My wife was amazing, sending me three or four
:15:48. > :15:51.e`mails a day and she constantly said how proud she was of me, so
:15:52. > :15:54.when I'm running, I'm thinking, I'm making my wife proud and that makes
:15:55. > :16:01.me happy and wanting to push on more. Even my dad from hospital was
:16:02. > :16:04.sending messages from the rest of my family, getting messages from them
:16:05. > :16:08.was hugely important. It made you realise that even though you were in
:16:09. > :16:12.the middle of the desert doing something crazy putting your health
:16:13. > :16:16.at risk, you knew there was a load of people back home thinking about
:16:17. > :16:21.you and rooting for you and basically with you.
:16:22. > :16:31.CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 32 hours after setting off, the last
:16:32. > :16:33.runners emerge from the desert. Everyone turns out to welcome them
:16:34. > :16:53.in. The final day. Just one marathon
:16:54. > :16:57.left to run. And today, we change tactics. Just before the start on
:16:58. > :17:02.the last day, we kind of said, shall we stay together, can we go off on
:17:03. > :17:06.our own pace. Andy and I said we wouldn't mind seeing how fast we
:17:07. > :17:10.could do the final marathon stage. On the last day it was nice to have
:17:11. > :17:14.solo time as well. It was very different, you against the world,
:17:15. > :17:18.running as fast as you can go. After running so far over several days,
:17:19. > :17:19.running a marathon through the desert suddenly doesn't seem too
:17:20. > :17:46.bad. Obviously the fact my dad is really
:17:47. > :17:50.ill at the moment with cancer. It's been an additional motivation. I've
:17:51. > :17:56.seen him battling his illness and like the courage and the kind of
:17:57. > :17:59.determination that he's showing in really kind of adverse
:18:00. > :18:07.circumstances, at times, and of course I've drawn strength from
:18:08. > :18:11.that. He's had a second operation which thankfully went OK and I said
:18:12. > :18:15.to my dad, you know, you're amazing, like, well done for going through a
:18:16. > :18:20.second operation again on your spine, a serious thing. He's pretty
:18:21. > :18:26.ill. He's doing amazingly, battling every day. What my dad's going
:18:27. > :18:40.through is ten million times harder than running the marathon.
:18:41. > :18:53.Will Andy and O z are still behind me and it's Will who is suffering
:18:54. > :18:58.the most. `` Oz. Pain in my left ankle, right knee, blisters are all
:18:59. > :19:09.ripped apart, it's just red raw skin. I've got blood in my urine.
:19:10. > :19:16.There's something telling me to just keep going, don't stop. It's harder
:19:17. > :19:25.today without the guys. But you just have to go at your own pace. This is
:19:26. > :19:33.the hardest thing I've ever done. Definitely. I thought the long day
:19:34. > :19:41.would be the hardest. But actually, it just gets harder and harder and
:19:42. > :19:46.harder. Andy is also struggling. On the last day, I started to get a
:19:47. > :19:50.little bit emotional. Which was quite strange. I think partly the
:19:51. > :19:57.body was very tired and I was running as fast as I could and it's
:19:58. > :20:02.a bit silly because it's only a run. My bag started breaking so my bottle
:20:03. > :20:06.started falling out my bag. It's funny when you're so tired how
:20:07. > :20:11.upsetting things like that are. It crushed me that I had to stop and
:20:12. > :20:16.change my bottles. Did you cry? I almost had a little cry. Then I had
:20:17. > :20:23.to have a word to myself and say, pull yourself together and sort it
:20:24. > :20:27.out, it doesn't matter. My fiance wrote a note for each day that I was
:20:28. > :20:31.going to read before I left for each stage of the race. I left that final
:20:32. > :20:39.note until I'd finished the race, so I kind of read that and I kind of
:20:40. > :20:43.thought about her and her mum and Tom's dad and my mum and had a
:20:44. > :20:50.little cry at that moment which seemed to be quite common, as people
:20:51. > :20:52.crossed that line. I surprised myself finishing 40th in the final
:20:53. > :21:02.day. Then the moment we'd been waiting
:21:03. > :21:33.for. All four of us reunited at the
:21:34. > :21:41.finish line of one of the toughest races in the world.
:21:42. > :21:47.As soon as I saw Oz I was like, OK, I can hang tonne his ankles and get
:21:48. > :21:53.dragged. It was a struggle. We got there in the end. Thank you so much.
:21:54. > :22:00.Awesome. I'm looking forward to my kiss. It's taken us around 40 hours
:22:01. > :22:04.for running and walking 220 kilometres across The Sahara with
:22:05. > :22:09.several kilos of food and kit on our backs to reach this point.
:22:10. > :22:14.We were joking when we said we should return and tell our other
:22:15. > :22:18.halves to we'd signed up for something else. Crazy. I'd never run
:22:19. > :22:22.more than five`and`a`half kilometres. That satisfaction of
:22:23. > :22:26.completing something like this, a massive challenge, with some close
:22:27. > :22:31.mates. You can't get that sense of achievement and feeling in many
:22:32. > :22:35.things in life. Doing it again I definitely won't, but I don't regret
:22:36. > :22:39.it, it was a great experience. I've taken a lot away from it. I'm very
:22:40. > :22:43.happy that I'll never have to do it again. There's nothing extraordinary
:22:44. > :22:46.about me and this is one of the whole things, I was wanting to do
:22:47. > :22:50.something that was extraordinary to do.
:22:51. > :23:05.Woo! Yeah... Good evening. We have been tracking
:23:06. > :23:10.the weather system that will bring us some awful weather for over a
:23:11. > :23:13.week. Here is Hurricane Bertha. Short`lived but since which it's
:23:14. > :23:18.been pushing across the Atlantic. It's been modified by cooler seas
:23:19. > :23:19.and mixing in with the area around it to