News story
24 June 2025
A keen ultra runner who completed an epic challenge – known as the ‘toughest foot race on earth’ – has raised £55,725 for the pioneering new Cambridge Children’s Hospital.
Ed Tollemache took on the Marathon des Sables – referred to as ‘MDS’ by enthusiasts – in April to fundraise for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), the official charity for Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge which funds high-tech equipment, specialist staff, extra comforts and vital research above and beyond what the NHS is able to provide.
The Marathon des Sables, which translates as ‘Marathon of the Sands’, is an epic challenge comprising of back-to-back ultras in the desert, with distances ranging from 30km-90km per day, for a total of 252 kilometres – the equivalent of six marathons. Choosing to run the toughest of all three MDS challenges – referred to as the ‘Marathon des Sable Legendary’ – Ed carried his own supplies of food and clothing in a rucksack weighing 99 kilogrammes through the blistering heat of the Sahara Desert in Morocco, where temperatures are known to reach as high as 50 degrees centigrade.
Ed, who spoke about the challenge on ACT’s radio show, ACT’s Amazing People, on Cambridge Radio, said: “They say that 90% of the challenge in the desert is all in your head and the other 10% is the running bit. I did doubt myself at the start. Going into it you worry about getting sick or getting injured, you could turn your ankle and then your event is over, but I didn’t doubt my physical ability and once I’d got through day one, I felt a bit more comfortable with it.”
Ed, 49, whose family own and run the Helmingham Hall and Gardens in Suffolk, completed the challenge with his cousin Tom, who was running for a mental health charity for ex-military personnel. Between them they raised over £100,000 – with Ed raising an impressive £55,725 for the pioneering new Cambridge Children’s Hospital (CCH).
The hospital will be the first specialist children’s hospital for the East of England – and the first in the world to fully integrate treatment of children’s mental and physical health, alongside world-leading research. Children, young people, parents and carers from around the region have been involved in shaping the new hospital, from how it looks and feels to how it cares for patients and their families.
MDS won its name as ‘the toughest foot race on earth’ because of the harsh environment and high temperatures. Ed, who was 48 at the time of the race, prepared for the heat by training at a specialist centre in London two weeks before leaving – where athletes are put into a heated chamber for an hour and run on a treadmill with a mask, carrying their rucksack. He also ran regularly, completing four hour runs every weekend.
Ed, who was placed 15th out of 250 in the age 40-50 year-old category, narrowly missed coming in the top 10% overall – having been placed 138th out of a 1,000 runners.
Asked what some of the worst things were about the challenge, he said lack of sleep. “The tents were very basic canvas covers propped up by sticks and we just had a rug underneath where we lay like a tin of sardines, with seven or eight of us in the tent. There were 1,000 people in camp with 52 different nationalities so the noise was constant but at night, if you did get to sleep, it wouldn’t be long before the wind would change direction and a sandstorm would come through and the sticks would collapse and you’d have to get out of your sleeping bag to prop them back up again. We definitely had three or four nights where we had very little sleep.”
Competitors had to carry 750 millilitres of water each day – “but I drunk about 12 litres on the first day when we ran 82 kilometres and didn’t go to the loo once.”
Asked what his luxury items were, Ed said: “Peanut M&Ms because they didn’t melt in the heat – and socks. I took five pairs to get me through, knowing each morning I could put on a nice, clean pair of socks and then bin the other ones.”
He also survived on dehydrated food – porridge for breakfast and dinner made up of meals with higher calorie content like Spaghetti Bolognese, but because the water wasn’t always boiling, he remembers lots of meals with ‘crunchy pasta.’ Apart from M&Ms, another treat included crunched up salt and vinegar crisps – ‘because your body craves salt.’
Asked if he enjoyed the experience, Ed said: “It’s one of those things where you get back and there’s lots of excitement and euphoria and you’re very pleased to have done it and everyone is congratulating you and you’re on a high and it’s often confused with enjoyment, whereas at the time there were definitely periods where we were not enjoying it at all.”
Memories which remain special, however, include one day when during a brief spell of rain everyone ran with their arms in the air – as well as the beautiful terrain.
“There were times when you would walk up a dune and you would get to the top and have this incredible scenery. We’d run down sand dunes that hadn’t been trodden on before because the wind changes the direction of the dunes every year, so we were in uncharted territory for several days. That was pretty incredible.”
During his chat on ACT’s Amazing People, which aired on Sunday 22nd June, presenter Gavin Richards asked about Ed’s well-known Godfather, King Charles. Asked if he had been in touch, Ed replied: “He has written so he knows I’ve done it. I haven’t seen him since I’ve come back but I’m sure that there will be congratulations when I see him next.”
Also on the show – featuring EXTREME FUNDRAISERS – was Ed’s sister, Selina Hopkins, an ambassador for the children’s hospital with her niece Jenny, who did a daring wing walk to raise over £7,000 for the children’s hospital. Strapped by harness to a metal rod, the pair flew at 150 miles an hour, at 1,400 feet. Selina said: “We were blessed with a beautiful day, we could see for miles.”
Margaret Seaman, a 95-year-old great-great grandmother from Norfolk whose knitting creations of famous landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and the Sandringham Estate, also featured, raised an impressive £300,000 for the children’s hospital.
Click here if you would like to donate to the public campaign for the Cambridge Children’s Hospital.
To listen back to ACT’s Amazing People – Extreme Fundraisers – click here or visit Cambridge Radio’s website.
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