Graduate gears up for 100-mile trek across desert

A CARDIFF University graduate is preparing to run a 100-mile ultramarathon in 24 hours across a desert in Kazakhstan.

Jamie Maddison will set off across the barren desert followed only by a support vehicle in a country which only recently allowed travel to and from the EU.

The 28-year-old will attempt the route across the harsh SaryesikAtyrau desert in the east of the country, after months of preparation including running at least 50 miles per week.

Jamie said: “I’m trying to focus on pockets of the world that people back home know very little about.

“The value of such journeys comes from what these eccentric acts teach me about myself; how to make do, how to work hard when you don’t want to, how to challenge yourself and how to keep disciplined in the harshest conditions.”

The epic trek in September will not be Jamie’s first time travelling to Asia; previous trips have seen him uncover 10th century arrowheads in the mountains of Tajikistan, discover an abandoned experimental Soviet weapons testing facility and run with camel herders in Uzbekistan.

The love for exploration was sparked when Jamie became secretary of Cardiff University’s Mountaineering Club, which saw him climb across the Gower Peninsula.

Director of development and alumni relations at Cardiff University, TJ Rawlinson, said: “Jamie’s expedition is an example of the incredible things our 155,000-strong global alumni community do with their lives after graduating from Cardiff.

“On behalf of everyone at the University, I wish Jamie the best for his ultramarathon in Kazakhstan this September.”

Since graduating from the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Jamie moved to London and now works as an adventure speaker and content strategist.

Up until the 1990s Kazakhstan banned travel to and from the EU.

Jamie’s expedition is being supported by British watchmakers Christopher Ward and its Challenger Programme.