Stone sports enthusiast, Greg Garner, the son of local Estate Agent Andrew Garner, is heading for the desert later this month when he takes on the gruelling Marathon des Sables with his team-mate James March.
The 23-year-old Economics student is travelling to the Sahara to face the toughest footrace on Earth; a 6-day ultramarathon across 156 miles of unforgiving terrain to raise funds and awareness for vital research aimed at curing spinal cord injuries.
Greg, along with participants from all over the world will face sand dunes, rocks and salt plains in extreme temperatures of 45 – 50°C. If that wasn’t enough, he’ll also be carrying on his back, everything he needs to survive this multi-stage adventure.
Greg, along with James, is aiming to raise funds for ‘Walk Once More’, a charity, funding research which is progressing at pace to prove that the spinal cord can be regenerated, making severe disability and paralysis through injury, a thing of the past. ‘Walk Once More’ is funding medical technology at the forefront of the global race to cure spinal cord injury, supporting a range of research which is most likely to have transferable benefits for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and stroke.
Training for the Marathon des Sables has been full-on in recent months and these final weeks have seen Greg and James using heat chambers at the University of Wolverhampton to build their stamina and conditioning for, as Greg says, “the extreme desert climate we’ll face”. He adds, “Overall, we’re racing to find a cure for spinal cord injury and degeneration, and I hope people will feel able to support us”
To donate please visit Greg’s Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/GregMDS22
