Hugh Morgan and Paddy Hamilton survive hell – and death – in toughest footrace on earth

You can train, train and train some more. You can prepare everything down to the finest detail, but sometimes the unforeseen happens and sometimes that leads to a near-death experience.

That’s exactly what happened to ultra-runners Hugh Morgan and Paddy Hamilton in the scorching Sahara Desert earlier this month.

It’s billed as the ‘toughest foot race on earth’ but the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands) became even more so this year.

A crippling stomach illness spread like wildfire through the camp at the start of the race and the organisers weren’t equipped with enough medical supplies to care for the victims.

The seven-day 156- mile event across the dunes, rocky jebels and white-hot salt plains in temperatures that normally reach around 50 degrees is the ultimate test for any athlete, but this year the temperature soared to almost 60 degrees and with illness and heat-related dehydration rampant, the situation became very serious, very fast.