Marathon man Matthew’s 7-day Sahara challenge

Matthew Crowhurst, 42, took part in the Marathon Des Sables – a 250-mile run across the Sahara Desert in North Africa.

He said: “It has been brutal.

“When I was training, I was doing about 70 miles a week but it didn’t prepare me for this.”

Matthew, from Lee Green, would run up to 80 miles a day in searing temperatures, at one point topping 47 degrees Celsius.

“There were some dark moments,” he said. “One of the days I ran for 17 hours. At one point I was going through deep sand at 1am and I didn’t know where I was. There were definitely some tears shed.”

The 250-mile race lasted seven days, with Matthew coming 339 out of 1031 who started the race.

“I was really happy with my placing – some of the people who come out at the front are among the world’s best.

“Sometimes you would see people at the side of the road who dropped out of the race on drips.

“But it was a fantastic feeling when I saw the finish line – such a relief!”

Matthew took part in the race for Yorkshire Cancer Research, and hopes to have raised in excess of £10,000 for the charity.

“I think the decision to run this race was probably a mid-life crisis thing,” he added. “I think my wife would approve of this type of crisis though!”

If you would like to donate to Matthew’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/matcrowhurst.