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Other diaries: Antarctica / Circumnavigation / Microlighting / Mountaineering

Date: 

April 1999

Event: 

Marathon des Sables

Description: 

Promoted as "toughest footrace in the world".

Aim: 

Complete the 150 miles (5.5 marathons in 6 days) foot race against 600 competitors from 30 countries through Sahara desert, carrying own food, equipment and supplies.

Sighted guide: 

Jon Cook

Media Coverage

Carlton documentary "against all odds" covering Miles and Jon's participation has won 3 international film festival awards to date.

Miles comments: 

I unfortunately lost several layers of skin from my feet through chemical burns just before the race, and also had a stress fracture on an ankle, so the race became focused more on pain management than athletic ability! Undoubtedly, it was only team support from Jon that got me through.

Lesson learned:

All about fulfilling goals by keeping focused, teamwork, perseverance, and not accepting failure as an option before we started.
Attitude is critical for success.
"as long as you are pointing in the right direction, every step counts".
Live a day at a time, an hour, or even a minute at a time, when things are difficult; just don't give up!

Date: 

August 2001

Event: 

Silken Footsteps

Description: 

11-Day Ultra-Marathon Run across China

Aim: 

Compete against 200 International competitors running set stages along the ancient silk road across China, taking them from running through deluging monsoon downpours through Shanghai, across parts of the Gobi desert, 12,000 feet high mountain tracks to the Great Wall of China.

Sighted guide: 

His 17-year old son David, and Ron Thomas, KLM Engineer

Miles comments: 

Very special, having my son David guiding me on parts of it.

Lesson learned:

Learned never to underestimate a forthcoming event in your life, just because you have done something similar in the past. I needed medical attention on one of the early semi-desert stages near the Terracotta Army, due to much higher humidity than the Sahara Desert and loss of liquid.
Always prepare thoroughly, then give it 110%, whatever you are doing, if you want to succeed and progress in life.

Date: 

April 2002

Event: 

Qatar Desert Run

Description: 

Miles was part of a 5-man team who set a new world record, crossing the entire Qatar Desert non-stop and unsupported. he team had life-monitoring equipment strapped to them, and swallowed minature radio transmitters that monitored their core temperature, displaying information on minature computers attached to their belts. Analysis of the captured data was studied afterwards by René. The radio capsules proved invaluable, also helping to alert the team when Steve needed to be evacuated to hospital with suspected internal injuries during a sandstorm on day two, and, at the end of the 78 hours journey, Dr Mike Stroud was alerted to the fact that Major Jay Turner's core temperature had risen to the edge of the death zone, and was put on saline drips and hospitalised just in time, making a full recovery.

Aim: 

Complete the 120 miles journey, pulling a third of a ton of water and supplies behind them, took them over 78 hours day and night, without sleep.

Sighted guide and team members: 

Miles said he felt extremely honoured as a blind person being invited to join an elite endurance team headed up by Major Jay Turner (Royal Engineers), former Sandhurst Military Academy Instructor, Dr Mike Stroud OBE, who set an epic Trans-Antarctic world record with Sir Ranulph Fiennes in 1993; René Nevola, British International Tri-athalon athlete and senior research scientist specialising in bio-mechanics and human survival in extreme environments and Steve Morris, a former WO2 in the Royal Engineers who has competed for the past 4 years in the gruelling 65-mile Trailwalkers UK race.

Media coverage:

National Geographic TV documentary

Miles comments: 

It is not often we have the privilege in our lives to share an experience with really great people - these men all had the hearts of lions, and were incredibly resilient, focused and cheerful in the most obscene, extreme, sleep-deprived conditions.

Lesson learned:

I have seen the importance of choosing carefully the team members when much is required of them, and verified the fact again that you can do almost anything you set your mind to - the only limits in our lives are those we accept ourselves.