Shropshire Craig's gruelling run in heat of Sahara raises thousands for charity

The 44-year-old father of one has just flown back from the Sahara after completing the endurance run alongside the legendary explorer.

Sir Ranulph became the oldest Brit to complete the event at the age of 71 and described it as one of the toughest he had ever endured.

Craig, from Kemberton, near Shifnal, spent six days sharing a tent in the Moroccan desert with the adventurer after signing up with the same trainer.

The marathon sees runners complete a run of more than 250 kilometres, or 156 miles, in just over a week with temperatures reaching 50 degrees.

Runners have to negotiate mountains, dunes, sandstorms and venomous spiders en route to the finish line.

The race is broken down into a 37-kilometre race on the first day, followed a 31 and 33-kilometre run over the next two days.

Then it is the big one, a gruelling 92-kilometre jaunt which lasted from 7am until 3am the following morning.

All that was left was another marathon and a final half marathon to finish. The distances and terrain are the reason the race is known as one of the toughest around.

But rather than being deterred Craig, who had never run more than 15 miles a year ago, is already planning for next year's race.

"It's the toughest foot race on the planet," he said.

"I did with it Sir Ranulph Fiennes who I shared a tent with, which made it quite special really.

"We were both trained by Rory Coleman, who is a bit of legend in the ultra marathon world and has set loads of records.

"What Sir Ranulph did was an amazing achievement. Despite entering the tent later than everyone else at night he just kept going. He was an inspiration to others."

It was only recently Craig, who runs his own engineering company, Inductaflex Ltd, from his home, caught the bug to push himself to the limits.

After climbing Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, he began talking to a fellow climber about the Marathon Des Sables and was told he could never complete it.

A year later he was flying out from Gatwick on April 3 to Ouarzazate in Morocco, before taking a seven-hour coach trip to the Sahara where he would spend the next week, returning home to Kemberton on Monday night.

"I'm one of those people who if someone says something is impossible I have to give it a go," he said.

"I started training 12 months ago and I must have finished 25 marathons during training.

"It gets to the stage where each one feels like nothing but it's only when you look back you realise each one of them is an achievement, really."

But no training could prepare Craig for what was ahead, especially during the longest run when he was armed with nothing more than a head torch and compass while negotiating his way through the desert.

"I really struggled from day three because my feet started swelling up and I had terrible blisters," he said.

"It's strange because normally you'd hardly be able to walk but here you are pushing yourself through another marathon in the desert.

"Each night we rolled out a carpet and slept on the rocks. You could bring an air bed but that's extra weight to carry.

"You don't bring much food either because again you have to carry it, so you are constantly hungry, tired and dehydrated. The night runs were quite daunting especially when you've been running for 15 hours and you still know you've got three left."

He added: "It is a tough race but I would recommend it to anyone because if you put in the work and training it is possible to complete."

Some 1,500 people entered the ultra marathon's 30th anniversary race and about 1,250 completed the course.

Craig, who is married to Karen and has a seven-year-old daughter, Arabella, finished in the top 500 but he hopes to be in the top 50 when he returns next year.

He also looks set to raise £3,000 for Cancer Research UK following this year's race.

To donate to Craig's Cancer Research UK fundraising page visit www.justgiving.com/Craig-Barnshaw