Saharamarathon 2011

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 July 2010 Written by The Virtual Runner Thursday, 29 July 2010

The annual Saharamarathon (organised by Sandblast) takes place on 28 February 2011. Sandblast is a London-based  arts and human rights charity, which has been officially facilitating UK participation since 2009.

Not to be confused with the Marathon des Sables, in Morocco, the Saharamarathon takes place in the Algerian Sahara in the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf. It is organized by the refugees and volunteers from around the world and helps raise the visibility of the plight of close to 200, 000 Saharawis, as well as funds for projects to improve the lives of these long term refugees, who have been stranded in harsh desert camps since 1975.

The first Saharamarathon took place in 2001 and every year has been attracting growing numbers of participants from around the globe. In 2010, 27 runners participated from the UK (the highest number yet). They raised over £20,000 for our Saharawi Artist Fund, which finances arts and cultural development projects in the refugee camps. In total, over 400 runners came from 22 different countries. The event is professionally organized and draws top athletes as well as amateur runners.

Participants can run a full marathon, a half marathon, 10km or 5km. During their week in the camps, they stay with a Saharawi refugee family and get a unique chance to learn their story and experience the legendary hospitality of this exiled desert culture.

Sandblast’s role is to take the headache out of organizing all the logistical aspects of the trip and the stay in the camps. We deal with the flights, visas, accommodation etc. We also organize a special (and optional) educational/cultural programme for those wishing to enrich their experience while in the camps. This includes an evening on the dunes listening to live music and having a traditional desert feast.

Sandblast has had glowing feedback from runners of previous years so if anyone interested would like to speak to past participants, please let them and they will be glad to put you in contact.

For more information on Sandblast and our Running the Sahara campaign, visit the website at www.sandblast-arts.org and www.sandblast-arts.org/projects/running-the-sahara respectively.

Email address to respond to: runningthesahara@sandblast-arts.org

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Week 4 Done, 8 to go!

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 July 2010 Written by The Virtual Runner Sunday, 25 July 2010

Another exciting week in the The Virtual Runner’s world of marathon training! Three more successful runs this week and that includes today’s 12 mile long run.

Overall, a pretty good week:-

Tuesday

Easy run of 6.5km (4.04 miles) in 42:07 for an average pace of 10:26 min/mile.

Thursday

Tempo run with 1.6km @ 10:57 min/mile – 6.4km @ 08:52 min/mile – 1.6km @ 10:43 min/mile

Sunday

Long run of 19.46km (12 miles) in 2 hours 9 mins 16 secs for an average pace of 10:41 min/mile (06:38 min/km)

Details of long run:-

Next week’s running is a rest/easy week with three 6 mile runs, which will be a nice break! However, the week after that my long run is going to be 16 miles! Yikes.

Details of the training plan I’m following are here:-

I’m off to vegitate…