Beverley Atheltic Club ultra-athlete Martin Hall is taking on the challenge of a lifetime this week when he takes part in the Gobi Desert March in aid of the Help for Heroes charity.
The former army officer and current Chairman and Managing Director of Hall Construction Group will spend the week in a remote area of western China and cover a total distance of 250 kilometres on foot.
Carrying everything he needs for the week (except water) in his rucksack he will live on freeze-dried meals and will sleep in a tent at designated checkpoints. The terrain will be a mixture of dry, rocky river beds, dusty tracks and sand dunes and temperatures will vary between 10°C in the early stages of the course and 45°C in the later stages.
Rated one of the toughest endurance races in the world, the first four stages are each around 40 km (25 miles) after which competitors will tackle the penultimate stage which is 80km (50 miles). The final stage is only 10 km (6 miles) and with the finish in sight competitors will be spurred on to end their ordeal.
This will be the second time that Martin has competed in this series of four desert endurance events. In 2007 he completed the Atacama Crossing in Chile in 47 hours and 38 minutes and was fifteenth out of 64 finishers.
If you would like to make a donation to Help for Heroes go to http://www.justgiving.com/martinrunsgobi
If you would like to follow Martin’s progress click here.
Reported by Kay Farrow
