Published: Friday, 5th March, 2010 6:33pm

Local man steeling himself for Sahara run

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An athlete from Ballymore is this week entering his final week of preparations before heading to Morocco to take part in the gruelling "Marathon Des Sables", a six day run across the Sahara Desert, in what is described as the toughest footrace in the world.

Bobby McDermott will take off with 700 other runners on Easter Sunday to run across 156 miles of desert in up to 50 degrees of heat - carrying on his back a pack weighing around 12 kilos with all the food and gear he needs to see him through the ordeal.

He is using his participation in the event to help raise funds for Barnardo's, and anyone who wants to help Bobby towards his aim can donate money by clicking on the following link: www.barnardos.ie/sponsor-bobby.

The IT specialist working with Bank of Ireland Life in Dublin, is looking forward to the challenge.

"There is some intrepidation, and a little bit of worry about whether I have enough training done, but at the same time I'm getting excited about it," he admits.

Taking part in the race is the realisation of a long-time dream - and because there's a limit on the number of participants allowed take part, he actually had to lodge his entry three years ago.

In the past year, in preparation for the race, as well as actually training, he's done the Dingle Marathon, the Barcelona Marathon, and the Belfast and Dublin marathons - the Dublin one while carrying six kilos of equipment.

"I was always into athletics: my mam and dad (Seamus and Betty McDermott) ran with Mullingar Harriers, and while I was in the Carmelite College, Fr. Gerry Hipwell (RIP) encouraged me, and then Bobby Begley.

"I was always on the scene and reading about different athletics websites, so I read about this years ago: I was probably in first year in college, and thought it was something I'd like to do.

"There's 12 Irish in total doing it, but the majority of the people would be British and French.

"You are sharing a tent with eight other people, and that is supposed to be one of the selling points: the camaraderie is meant to be amazing. There might be only ten elite athletes doing it and the rest are ordinary Joe Soaps like me, who want to see if they can do it."

Bobby's not quite a Joe Soap though: he's put in a year of training to date, and notched up four marathons in the past year in a bid to ensure he's fully ready for the experience. He's also been in email contact with a couple of runners who have done the race in the past to get advice from them on what's ahead.

"There's a message board too with people doing it, trading 'secrets', giving advice, and asking questions."

The race is run under very strict rules: runners are restricted to nine litres of water a day, which is doled out to them during stages of their progress. But from that nine litres comes also their allowance for cooking.

Along with an on-site medical and ECG before beginning the race, their kit will be checked to ensure they have the amount of food they require for the week of running, and that they have the other items they're required to carry with them, including a sleeping bag and survival gear.While in the process of preparing for the event, it occurred to Bobby that he might as well turn the race into an opportunity to help out charity as well, and so, any sponsorship he raises - and it's at €6,500 to date - is going to Barnardo's.

"At first I entered it just for my own sense of achievement, to see if I could actually do it, and after entering, I thought about it and thought: 'well, I'm doing something like this for myself, but the welfare of any child is more important' so I decided I might as well raise awareness and money for Barnardo's.

"Children's charities are the best ones as far as I'm concerned, and it gives me the motivation to keep going: you can think: 'Well, I'm doing it for this'; it kind of pushes you on."Bobby is grateful for the support he has received in the past year from his family, friends, parents, and his girlfriend, Sinead.

"They've helped to keep me going any time the motivation waned. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without them," he said.

His aim is to raise €10,000 for the charity, and anyone who wants to pledge sponsorship to Barnardo's can do so by logging onto the barnardos.ie website, clicking the pink "Barnardos Events" tab, then selecting "Marathons and Races", and they can then click on Bobby's name.