IF you live in North Yorkshire how do you prepare for a six-day running race across the desert?

By training in a sauna, of course!

That’s just what Ed Barker Wyatt will be doing ahead of a challenge of a lifetime.

Ed, aged 40, will be taking part in the Marathon Des Sables, in April, where he will have to complete the 150 miles (250km) course in six days, crossing endless sand dunes, climbing rocky jebels, and face white-hot salt plains. In the middle, he will have to complete a stretch of 52 miles (80km) non-stop.

One of the biggest trials will be coping with the searing heat, that can reach 50C. To acclimatise, Ed will be training on an exercise bike in a sauna at York’s David Lloyd gym, where he works as a tennis coach.

To cover the distance, he will have to run the equivalent of a marathon each day, all the while carrying a kit containing his sleeping bag, food and other essentials.

He is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for Candlelighters Trust, a Yorkshire-based charity that supports children with cancer and their families. Ed has chosen the charity in memory of a talented young club player, Oscar Hughes from Dunnington, who died tragically, aged nine, from medulloblastoma, a type of tumour which attacked his brain and spine.

The desert challenge has been in the planning for two years. In preparation, Ed has completed a number of “ultra marathons” including the 110-mile Hardmoors course along the Cleveland Way, in 35 hours non-stop. “After finishing that, I told myself, if you can do that, you can do anything,” he said.

In January, he set out to complete the Spine Challenger, a non-stop, 108-mile race with a time limit of 60 hours, across a challenging and extremely technical section of the Pennine Way between Edale and Hawes. Reluctantly, Ed had to pull out after 50 miles because of weather conditions. “At times the snow was knee deep. It was hard because of the conditions under foot; it is hard to make progress through the snow.”

Undeterred, Ed is determined to try again next year. He says mental strength is just as important as physical conditioning in these events. Luckily, he is psychologically strong. “There are always a few walls you have to overcome. You have to tell yourself you are here for a long time. You have to take a minute to regroup and get on with it.”

Besides the heat and the risk of dehydration, the other big challenge in the Sahara will be keeping sand out of his running shoes.

“Protecting my feet will be another big priority. You need to wear gaitors on your shoes to stop sand getting in and wear socks like gloves to separate the toes to prevent them rubbing. Sand makes any friction twice as bad. They’ve also warned us about scorpions and the flesh eating camel spiders.”

Finally, he adds that his inspiration for putting himself through the challenge is his ten-year-old daughter Olivia.

“I want to show her you can do things beyond your limit and push yourself further if you put your mind to it,” he said, “This is so far beyond what I think I can do but I’m determined to complete it. How hard can it be? It’s just a big beach.”

Anyone who wants to support Ed’s Sahara challenge in aid of Candlelighters can do so through his Just Giving page: justgiving.com/Ed-Barker-Wyatt1

Read about Ed’s progress on his blog, How Far Is Too Far at edbarkerwyatt.blogspot.co.uk