RACINGTHEPLANET EXPERIENCE FOR FRIENDS & FAMILY

After spending 7 days running 155 miles through the desert, sleeping in a tent and eating dehydrated food having not showered for the week racers are usually excited for a burgers, pizzas, beers and showers but above all it is often their families that they miss the most.   Many friends and family run the race together, or join the same race – completing the course at their own pace and then sharing a tent each night. Some friends/family decide to join the volunteer team who tirelessly suppor...


RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Advanced Training Plan

Welcome Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line! The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride. All the best with you...


RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Intermediate Training Plan

Welcome Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line! The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride. All the best with you...


RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts Beginner Training Plan

Welcome Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line! The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride. All the best with you...


TEAM TRIFECTA AND WHY IT WORKS

By Peter Wilson People ask me time and time again how the members of Team Trifecta manage to get on so well in the brutal conditions encountered in desert racing. Team Trifecta was formed after we all raced individually in the Gobi March 2007. Michael Hull and myself (Peter Wilson) would storm off each morning with no plan, other than to run fast. Frank Fumich and Alex Nemet would start each morning with a specific plan, aiming to perform solidly the whole week. Almost every day the four of ...


THE BENEFITS OF COMPETING WITH A FRIEND

By Simon Penn   They say that a problem shared is a problem halved. And there are bound to be a few problems that arise when you’re tackling some of the world’s toughest terrain on foot in events like the RacingThePlanet / 4 Deserts ones. Whether it’s for the emotional or physical support, or just to have someone to share the experience with, more and more people are choosing to partner-up to tackle the 4 Deserts. Couples come in all shapes and sizes, and we’ll now meet five pairs who have u...


WHY AND HOW YOU SHOULD FUNDRAISE

By Rachel Jacqueline   “Competing in events for a cause is not just good for charities,” says RacingThePlanet competitor Simon Southgate, “it’s also a strong motivational tool”. The Hong Kong Chief Inspector has raised over HK$300,000 while running 750 kilometres through the Sahara desert (2008), Gobi March (2010) and Atacama Crossing (2011). He believes his charitable aims drive him through his low points and gives him energy to continue. Simon, who joined the 4Deserts Club in Antarctica i...


TOP TEN STEPS TO RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY

By Tom Gallagher Tom Gallagher of the United States raised a combined US$45,000 in the Atacama Crossing (Chile) 2007 and the Gobi March (China) 2008. Tom's basic message to fellow RacingThePlanet competitors who wish to raise money for charity is to keep it simple and be passionate about it. Here are Tom's Top Ten Tips for Raising Money: 1. Be Passionate About the Mission of the Charity. Identify a charity that has meaning to you. Check out their website, their board of directors, staff and ...


CREATIVE FUNDRAISING: WHY YOU CAN’T SIT BACK AND EXPECT DONATIONS TO ROLL IN

(George Chmiel’s entry into the 4 Deserts Club in November 2014 marks another significant achievement – he will have raised over US$300,000 for charity, the majority going to The MAGIC Foundation, a 25-year-old non-profit organization out of Chicago that supports children with Growth Related Disorders.) The cause and the foundation is close to George’s heart – his goddaughter Luci has Panhypopituitarism, a disease that most people have never heard of or know little about. Luci was born withou...


RAISING FUNDS FOR A 4 DESERTS RACE

Participating and competing in a 4 Deserts Race is life-changing.  It is an amazing experience that will stay with you forever – the friendships you form, the people you meet and the experience of pushing your limits outside of your comfort zone, all which can be applied to every aspect of your life.  It also makes you realize what is important in life, remembering that family, loved ones, and experiences make up a life worth living, not necessarily the tangible items in life. That being said...


The Importance Of Big Toes For Running

By Chris Watts/Motion Dynamics Pruning roses is a good way to relax and spend an afternoon.  It is a cathartic exercise, full of fresh air in a natural environment.  All that healing, positive ionic energy is healthy. During just such a session, I unwittingly stepped on one of those pruned thorny branches. The sharp organic barbed hook went right through the sole of my shoe and penetrated the first metatarsal joint, piercing one of the 9 ligaments that bind the big toe joint.  The painful pri...


POSTURE/ALIGNMENT MATTERS

By Chris Watts In the fabulously entertaining book about the Tarahumara tribe of Copper Canyon runners up in the Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico, Christopher McDougall, author and running adventurer, described this athletic running clan uniquely when spotting them from 3 kilometers away where he would notice the precise upright perpendicular form of these runners. They run with such an erect carriage that they are able to utilize and optimize their maximum power from toe to fingertip. Y...