Respect for my ‘sand brother’ Ted
I have been speaking for over eight years about my journey now, and while I like to think I do a good job, I never really know (perhaps as no one ever tells a terminally ill man he is rubbish!).
This week, however, I got what I read as a positive message – I was invited back to speak at the Marathon Des Sables (MDS) Expo in London for the fourth time.
While I love to inspire and encourage other runners to have the best race they can, I also love having the opportunity to meet who I call my “sand brothers and sisters”, people who I have shared the Sahara desert with in previous races.
Many of those “relatives” were there to speak too, including my first running coach, Rory Coleman, who got me through my first desert race. I have completed many others with him since and I am forever grateful to him.
Another person I shared my first desert race with in 2016 was Ted Jackson. Ted is a larger-thanlife man who knows no boundaries – I guess eccentric would be a good description. Ted has rowed across the Atlantic twice, gone out to the Sahara several times (once in a camel outfit , not surprisingly he did not finish that year), run a marathon in all seven continents, and one he is particularly proud of, came last in the UK Ironman triathlon.
However, what endears me to Ted most is not his bravery and adventurous spirit, but his generosity.
Back in 2020 when we were in Covid lockdown, I ran 150 miles, that’s 2,600 laps, round my tiny back garden in six days to replicate the distance on the MDS as it had been cancelled. Ted messaged me to say I had inspired him to run around his garden for 24 hours and asked many friends to sponsor me via my Prostate Cancer UK page rather than raise money for another cause.
So, it would have been easy to say no to attending the expo on a busy Saturday, but just think what I would have missed out on. Perhaps others would not have benefitted either had I not been there speaking, so I hope that you too make appropriate sacrifices on occasions for others – you may just end up coming away with a sense of pride and worth just like I did.
‘‘He’s rowed across the Atlantic twice and run many marathons