Latest news with #MarathondesSables
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Former Kilmarnock player tackling jungles and deserts to help daughter
The former midfielder has made his peace with the fact that his daughter will never date a boyfriend, never get married, never have children or find an escape from the 50 different symptoms associated with a debilitating illness. The one thing he can't accept is the impotence of sitting around, doing nothing. His solution is extreme in a very real sense. To raise money for the Reverse Rett charity, 56-year-old 'Mavis' completed the infamous Marathon des Sables over seven days of gruelling heat then finished third in the 230-kilometre Ultra Marathon in Peru last year. On Saturday he tackles the 104-mile Ultra Scotland event between Dalry and Melrose and while his fundraising efforts have contributed over £100k to the search for a cure, the benefits to his own state of mind have been equally undeniable. 'I always say to people that Dionne's condition has given me some unbelievable life experiences and made me realise what's important in life,' he tells Herald Sport. 'Ordinarily I would have never have done the events I've done. Subconsciously I think it also became a substitute for me for the loss of football as well. I played for 21 years and from the age of 22, I started to train every day as if I was contesting a World Cup final.' He retired from playing for St Mirren in 2006 and found coaching an unfulfilling experience. Managing two Subway stores in Coatbridge and Bellshill failed to fill the void left by professional football. In 2008 the credit crunch came along and swallowed up the profits. A neighbour flagged up a recruitment drive by Police Scotland and, after 15 years on the thin blue line, he accepted a role with a London-based charity supporting survivors of human trafficking. His work provides a constant reminder that everyone has their crosses to bear. 'Dionne was 11 months old and there was no sign of crawling or walking before she started refluxing and being sick 20 or 30 times a day,' he recalls of the period when he realised his daughter was ill. Regular visits to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and Wishaw General failed to come up with a conclusive diagnosis. A breakthrough came, unexpectedly, during a family holiday in Florida when he googled neurologists and found one 30 minutes away. Costing £800, tests and blood samples came back showing that Dionne had a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder which affects the way the brain develops. Primarily found in females Rett Syndrome causes a progressive loss of motor skills and language. Reverse Rett is a research organisation focussed on delivering treatment to sufferers. While they can do little for Dionne in the here and now, Reilly's quest for a future breakthrough has brought some startling and unexpected life experiences. 'Originally I started doing the events to raise awareness for the charity and for Dionne,' Reilly explains. 'But through that I discovered that I was getting something from it as well. 'You can never replace the adrenaline of playing on a Saturday, but the illness gave me a purpose and incentive to keep fit and healthy and switch from a team event to seeing how far I could push myself.' He began modestly with a Glasgow 10k in 2012 before moving on to the Three Peaks Challenge, spanning Ben Nevis, Scaffel Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Wales over the course of 24 hours. A formidable challenge to even the toughest of mortals, Reilly was convinced to go higher, harder. Read more: Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m chance, training-ground plan and the Black Knights Stephen McGowan: Is Dermot Desmond absentee landlord or Celtic mastermind? Incorporating a 2.4-mile swim in open water, 112 miles on a bike, then a marathon, Iron Man events offered an immediate challenge. He couldn't swim and hadn't cycled since the age of 10. Signing up to a swimming club and purchasing an aluminium bike for £500, he completed two Iron Man events before setting his sights on the legendary Marathon des Sables, a 160-mile ultramarathon held every year in the Sahara Desert. 'There was a freak heatwave and the temperatures were almost 60 degrees centigrade every day,' he recalled. 'A French competitor died on day two and one of my tent mates suffered a cardiac arrest. He was dead for two minutes before they managed to bring him back.' Even a brutal test of endurance failed to tick off all the boxes on the bucket list to end them all. Last year he ran 230 kilometres through the Amazon Jungle in Peru and finished third. 'Prior to the year I did it, only 15 per cent of the competitors finished it,' Reilly explains. 'Day two we hit the jungle and day three was incredible. We went through a protected area where less than 50 westerners had ever ventured. 'One of the reasons for that is that they have a protected species of bat, with only six of them left on the planet. 'We stayed that night with a small indigenous tribe in the jungle. Only 12 people in the whole world spoke the tribe's language. You would put your hammock up and sleep dangling between a couple of trees.' His Just Giving efforts have now raised over £60,000. His autobiography and other initiatives bolster the tally to something in the region of £100k and on Saturday he plans to raise the tally a little more by completing 104 miles and four marathons on the Southern Upland Way between Dalry and Melrose in the Ultra Scotland race. It's a long way from his old, distant life as a professional footballer with Motherwell, Killie, St Johnstone and St Mirren. 'I was at Killie 11 years or so and I had my best memories at Rugby Park, winning the Scottish Cup. But I hardly watch any games on TV these days,' he says. Gathering dust in the attic, he gifted his Scottish Cup jersey and medal away to a diehard Kilmarnock fan and gave a Kaiserslautern jersey acquired after a UEFA Cup defeat in 1999 to a roofer working on his home. 'The experience and the memories sustain me more than souvenirs,' he explains. 'Going down John Finnie Street with the cup and seeing people happy is what I think of. 'Kilmarnock still ask me to do the in-house TV channel and the truth is that I barely know the players. I loved my career and gave it everything and I don't know if subconsciously this is just the way I cope with the loss of that, but I couldn't tell you the last live game I was at or the last 90 minutes I watched on TV. 'I love my boxing now and if you gave me the choice now of watching the Champions League final or a big title fight, I'd watch the boxing.' Mark Reilly will complete the Ultra Scotland race today (Saturday 7 June 2025). To support his fund-raising efforts for Rett Syndrome research visit
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Colonel Jangvir Lamba completes Ironman 140.6 triathlon in Taiwan; adds to his string of elite endurance feats
BENGALURU: Colonel Jangvir Lamba of the Indian Army conquered the Ironman 140.6 triathlon in Penghu, Taiwan, one of the toughest endurance races in the world, on April 13. Competing in the 50-54 age category, the 53-year-old officer completed the race in 14 hours, 53 minutes and 34 seconds. The Ironman 140.6 includes 3.8 km of open-water swimming, 180 km of relentless cycling and 42.2 km of marathon running- all in a single day without a break. A fourth-generation officer in the Indian Army, Col Lamba hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan, and currently serves at the ASC Centre (South), Bengaluru. Known for his discipline, his journey from being a professional bodybuilder to an accomplished endurance athlete has inspired many. His past achievements include titles like IRONMAN 70.3 Goa in November 2022, Asia-Pacific IRONMAN Championship, Cairns, Australia in June 2023, IRONMAN 140.6 Langkawi, Malaysia in October 2023 and Marathon des Sables, Morocco in April 2024. A 253.5 km multi-stage ultra marathon through the searing Sahara Desert, often termed the world's most brutal footrace. Col Lamba was formerly a national level bodybuilding judge with the Indian Body Builders Federation and has undergone transformation from sculpting physique to testing the extremes of human endurance, proving his relentless drive.
Ya Biladi
08-04-2025
- Sport
- Ya Biladi
Moroccans dominate Marathon des Sables stage 3 as Mohamed El Morabity takes lead
Under the blazing sun and across a grueling 32.5 km course, the third stage of the Marathon des Sables dramatically shook up the competition. Mohamed El Morabity, who kept a low profile the previous day, surged to the front by clinching victory with a time of 2h38'01". He was closely followed by Hamid Yachou at 2h39'06" and his brother Rachid El Morabity at 2h45'41". Once again, the day's podium was dominated by Moroccans, and the overall rankings remain fiercely competitive: Mohamed leads with a total time of 8h33'54", with Yachou trailing at 8h38'46" and Rachid at 8h40'16". In the women's category, Maryline Nakache continues to make waves. Despite the intense heat and a challenging 468 meters of elevation gain, the French athlete finished the stage in 3h15'36", reinforcing her commanding position. She remains 6th overall and is the top non-Moroccan competitor. Her nearest rivals, Aziza El Amrany (3h17'44") and Ragna Debats (3h44'56"), are significantly behind. With a cumulative time of 10h23'03", Nakache is on track for a decisive victory among the women. El Amrany (11h06'15") and Debats (11h43'47") round out the provisional podium.
Ya Biladi
06-04-2025
- Sport
- Ya Biladi
Morocco dominates opening stage of 39th Marathon des Sables
Morocco asserted its dominance from the outset of the 39th edition of the Marathon des Sables, which kicked off on Sunday between Jbel Erhraz and Oued Tijekht in the province of Errachidia. In this first 32 km stage, Mohamed El Morabity took the lead, crossing the finish line first with a time of 2h20'29''. «As always, the first stage is difficult—it's about finding the right rhythm», he said at the finish. He was closely followed by his brother, Rachid El Morabity—multiple-time winner of the event—who finished second in 2h21'37'', just over a minute behind. Another Moroccan, Hamid Yachou, rounded out the podium with a time of 2h23'11''. Despite some technical sections, including sandy stretches and cracked terrain, participants generally described the first stage as «accessible». In the women's race, French runner Maryline Nakache dominated the stage, finishing first in 2h58'22''. She was ten minutes ahead of Morocco's Aziza El Amrany (3h08'12''). Dutch athlete Ragna Debats, one of the favorites going into the event, completed the podium in 3h17'14'', nearly 19 minutes behind the leader. Held under the High Patronage of King Mohammed VI, the 39th edition runs from April 4 to 14, 2025. More than 1,000 runners from 52 countries will tackle the grueling 250 km course across six stages. This record-breaking distance for the legendary race through the heart of the Moroccan desert challenges each participant to their physical and mental limits, making it an adventure of both endurance and athletic excellence.
BBC News
06-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Harrogate man doing Sahara marathon for men's mental health
A Yorkshire man who is set to attempt what has been dubbed "the toughest foot race on earth" said he was doing it to raise awareness of men's mental Parish, 36, from Harrogate, began the 252km (155 mile) Marathon des Sables through the Sahara Desert in Morocco this seven-day race has seen Mr Parish carry all of his gear and food and sleep in a tent with eight others - raising money for suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm) in the process. "I've had fairly severe mental health issues in the past," he said. "Thankfully I'm in a great place at the moment which is why I feel comfortable to highlight it." He added: "I have never used the services offered [by Calm] but I think it's extremely important that people are aware of how they can get help."Mr Parish said men's mental health was a cause close to his heart. "Sometimes it just needs to be on a much lower level of guys saying 'I've had a crap day' or texting a mate and saying 'do you want to have a beer?'," he said."If we make it more casual, it can be talked about a bit more." In order to prepare for the race, which could see him running on soft sand in temperatures of up to 50C, Mr Parish said he had been running on a treadmill in a heated laboratory at Leeds Beckett University. He said his vitals had been monitored to help him understand when he needed to slow down. "I wasn't completely overwhelmed and shocked [by the heat]... so that was a tick of the box, if you like," he said. Mr Parish said he had also spent months planning how to bring the lightest possible pack, getting it down to about 7.5kg. "Asking people how much things weigh on [online shopping app] Vinted has been an interesting experience," he said his motivation for doing the marathon, alongside the charitable cause, was a "fascination" with extreme has previously taken part in Endure24, during which runners do as many 8km laps as possible in 24 hours."It all comes from just trying to find a limit of what my mind can do, what I can overcome," Mr Parish said. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
