My Marathon in the Sahara, by Nick Horsfall

Here's something to inspire you... 

Starting out 

I've always been a sporty type, football being my main interest, but I got into long-distance running a couple of years ago. I'd always wanted to run a marathon and had watched the London Marathon on TV ever since I was a kid, wondering if I could do it.

In Nov '09 I was lucky enough to get a place on the New York marathon. The day was amazing. I achieved a time of 3:36 hours which, for my first marathon, I was really happy with. Not long afterwards I was offered a place through my work to run the London Marathon the following April ’10. Having enjoyed the New York so much I jumped at the chance and managed to achieve a time around London of 3:24 which I was thrilled at. Suddenly I was hooked! The buzz from crossing the finish line is something that is difficult to put into words.

I found myself surfing the internet looking for what other marathons there were around the world. Before I knew it I'd set myself a personal challenge to run a marathon on every continent. Having ran on two continents already, I started to look at possible marathons for the remaining 5 (including Australasia)...

Western Sahara Map

After a short time on google I came across www.marathonguide.com which led me to www.SaharaMarathon.org. My first thoughts were, "running a marathon through the Sahara Desert?!?!? How amazing would that be!!!" -Quickly followed by, "will I be able to do this? Will it be too hot?? What if I get kidnapped??? What it I get lost!.."

The adventurer in me won over and I started to look into the race. Reading through the website and peoples comments about their experiences of the SaharaMarathon and that increased my confidence enough to enter. I found the UK facilitators to be the Sandblast Charity group and so it began.

Sandblast's New Voices

On July 10th, Sandblast Team celebrated with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the V&A Museum of Childhood and the Praxis Community project the New Voices Festival in Bethnal Green. From I Love Migrants and Amnesty International to community gardening projects and dance clubs - everyone was there.

When we didn't simply enjoy the great array of performances and entertainment on the main stage, we experienced a great interest from visitors and passer-bys in 2011 Running the Sahara, Tiris' album "Sandtracks", and project-in-planning, Studio-Live.

As an extra treat, rap duo Poetic Pilgrimage got our heads bopping and hips swivel. Two women  wearing hijabs mesmerized the audience by performing a number of songs from their very progressive and uplifting hip hop mixtape. Charity director was intrigued and went to purchase their CD only to find out that Poetry Pilgrimage got together with Saharawi singer, Aziza Brahim, for one of the songs on the CD: Regresso.

Learn more about Poetic Pilgrimage by checking out their blog at http://poeticpilgrimagemusic.blogspot.com/.

Cabaret Fundraiser for Saharawi Youth Theatre Project

You are warmly invited to the Charity Cabaret Extravaganza of Olive Branch Theatre and Sandblast. 
The evening present London's finest performers in music, theatre, comedy and the spoken word on the Thames to raise funds for a youth theatre project in the refugee camps. 
Places are limited, so get your name on the guest list now by donating £20 on JustGiving.
 

Find out more >>>

Source: http://www.sandblast-arts.org/get-involved/go-to-events

Sandblast at New Voices Festival

Sandblast warmly invites you 

to celebrate with us the cultural richness of East London's community 

- a community with many roots.

On Saturday, July 10th, we will all come together to mark our differences as well as our sameness. Our origins may be in Poland, Turkey, Brazil or Ghana, but we have all come together in London to form a new community, to discover NEW VOICES.

With music, arts, theatre, and entertainment, Praxis Community Projects, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Museum of Childhood celebrate these new communities and what they bring to the table to make East London the melting pot of culture and identity that it is known for.

"SARAVAH SOUL explodes out of the cross-cultural melting-pot of London’s music scene with their own special blend of Afro-Brazilian funk. Female Hip Hop and poetic duo POETIC PILGRIMAGE fuse African roots with London beats.
Live Klezmer music fusing wild, soulful eastern European melodies, alongside intense Burundi drummers, street dancers, choirs, carnival troupes and music from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
Children’s area with crafts and activities led by the Museum of Childhood. Theatre performances by arts group Kazzum and Chilean theatre group Los Comediantes."*

The Sandblast team will have a stall of information and Saharawi artefacts, like jewellery and tea pots, and we will be available for a chat about our newest project, Studio-Live, as well as the 2011 campaign of our annual fundraiser Running the Sahara.

Why don't you come and say hello?

We will have a stall at the Museum Gardens and Museum of Childhood on Cambridge Heath Road (London E2 9PA).

If you are not sure how to get there, but you don't want to miss us, give us a call at 0783 8463310.

*Extract from press release submitted to organisations exhibiting on the day.