Earlier this month, alumna Flossie Dove competed in the Marathon des Sables, the toughest endurance race in world, and has raised to date over £13,00 for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of her mother Annie Dove who was diagnosed with an aggressive kidney cancer and sadly passed away only 10 weeks after diagnosis last year. The Marathon des Sables is a six-stage ultra marathon over 7 days in which competitors carry their own food and kit for the entire week competeing in gruelling conditions.

Flossie writes  "It really was an incredible race, scaling rocky mountains (called jebels) and huge sand dunes, running along ridgelines, across vast dirt plains and sandy wadis. I will never forget the beauty of the Sahara, and of course the people, who came from all nationalities and backgrounds, with amazing stories and infectious determinism to just keep moving forward.  But I can’t deny that it was extreme. By mid-morning the heat was intense, sometimes reaching up to 50 degrees C in the dunes and salt plains, which heats from the ground up. Hitting those areas was like instantly walking into an oven (with a hairdryer on!). There is absolutely no shade between checkpoints (8-12km apart), the only way to cool down is to drink more water and slow down.  The long stage (day 3) was 85.8km – or 86.6km after taking a wrong turn in the dark – and took over 18.5 hours to complete. I drank a total 21 litres of water and somehow feel extremely lucky that we made it through without heat stroke... 

...At last the finish line came into view with the familiar disco music that had been keeping us awake at night all week. We had done it...  In truth, I still can’t believe it, but the fact I am still this fatigued nearly two weeks on reminds me of the enormity of the challenge and one I’ll never forget...

My motivation for fundraising [is] to make sure other families like mine can receive the care they need in the most difficult circumstances – and running in mum’s name, for Annie."

Flossie was placed 273rd out of 850 runners and came an incredible 18th in her age category.  

Very many congratulatons Flossie! 

If you would like to contribute to Flossie's fundraising please visit www.justgiving.com/team/deserttrotters