'On the challenge of a lifetime'

By Mona McAlinden
BBC Scotland news website

Last month, Ben Simmister and Scott Kennedy completed six marathons in six days through the Sahara desert. Here Ben, an IT analyst from Skye, talks to the BBC Scotland news website about his experiences.

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I recently completed the world's toughest foot race in Morocco to raise almost £8,000 for the Marie Curie Hospice in Edinburgh.

Just over 750 of us lined up to compete in the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands).

Ben near the start line on day one of the race

It took me just over 31 hours to complete the gruelling event and I crossed the finish line in 132nd place out of the 727 people who stayed the course (15th out of roughly 250 Brits).

An injury to my Achilles tendon during training had seriously hampered my preparation for the race.

Despite this, I was delighted with my performance, having never previously even run a regular marathon.

The race was the biggest challenge I've faced and there were several low points.

On day one I started conservatively but then lost my calm at checkpoint one, at 12.5km.

I stopped for two minutes to refill my water bottles and add electrolyte powders, which give you energy and increase water absorption.

However, everyone running close to me simply kept on going and aware I was losing places, I rushed my preparation, having forgotten to take any salt tablets.

My feet had started to fall apart on the very first day Scott Kennedy's experience

These tablets are handed out as part of our safety kit to replace salt lost through sweating.

After about 25km, I started to pay for this oversight, feeling very ill, dizzy and light-headed.

I couldn't drink any liquid and although I finished the stage I had some serious doubts about my ability to complete the race in the extreme heat.

Another low point was the 70km stage. I had planned to run hard early on and get as far as possible before the enormity of the stage kicked in.

However after 5km I developed a knee injury which limited me to alternating between running 200m and walking for 100 steps.

This was as much as I could manage despite taking plenty of painkillers and it made for a long day. This part of the race was far more of a mental challenge than anything I'd faced before.

Ben on the summit of Jebel Octal on day two of the race

It was demoralising to be overtaken by so many people at the start of the stage.

Doubts set in then about my ability to finish - made far worse by the knowledge that the furthest I'd ran before was 22 miles ... less than half the distance of this stage!

I had problems with my feet but painkillers and anti-inflammatories kept it manageable.

I also treated my own blisters with a needle, thread and iodine, which proved to be a good choice as my tent mates used the medical tent for this purpose and developed far worse problems.

Despite all of the above and the fact temperatures reached over 45C in the shade, the race certainly was the challenge of a lifetime and I'd recommend it to anyone.