Marlow man tackles 'toughest race on Earth' (From This Is Local London)

Marlow man tackles 'toughest race on Earth'

11:40am Thursday 19th March 2009

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A MARLOW man who was temporarily paralysed after suffering a spinal injury playing rugby is taking on a 150 mile race across the Sahara Desert dubbed the 'toughest footrace on Earth.'

Scans revealed that George Eyles, 34, of Monks Hollow, Marlow Bottom, had a cyst on his spine – a small bubble of fluid affecting the nerves – following a match in 2002 and he was told he could become permanently paralysed or die if he played rugby again.

The cyst shrunk, allowing him to return to normal activity, though it is still not safe for him to play certain sports.

Mr Eyles will be flown out to a secret destination in Morocco next Friday, where he will be given a day to acclimatise to desert conditions before beginning the Marathon des Sables.

Runners taking part in the six day challenge, the equivalent of five and a half marathons run in planned stages, have to carry all of their food and kit with them each day, which weighs around 10kg.

Father-of-two Mr Eyles has run in the London Marathon to raise money for Spinal Research in the last five years but faces a totally alien environment in his latest race attempt.

He will have to overcome day time temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius and 150 metre high sand dunes.

He said: “It's in the middle of nowhere, its literally in the wilderness.

"All of the previous races I have done have been in modest temperatures, so to do this for six days will be a new experience.

“Most of my training in the last few months has been done in winter weather – at minus five degrees so it's going to be interesting.”

Mr Eyles, head of digital media networks for broadcast company Arqiva, said he was “really lucky” his spinal problem was not worse and was determined to help others who were not so fortunate.

“Friends and family all think I am mad, and my wife was rather apprehensive, but she's behind me now rather than calling in the divorce lawyers and understands why I'm doing it,” he said.

“It became very obvious when my injury happened that with spinal injuries in particular there was a huge amount of work going on to get answers but they didn't have any yet.

“I thought I needed to take on a more unusual event this time to raise even more money.”

He raised £12,000 for Spinal Research through his London Marathon runs and aims for £50,000 this time.

Around 800 other racers from around the world will take part in the event.

Mr Eyle's family, including son Ben, seven, a pupil at Burford School in Marlow Bottom and daughter Holly, three, will be able to track his progress because he will be carrying a GPS locator.

To find out more go to www.saharaspinalchallenge.com see link on right.

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