Category: Coastguard Association News

The day has arrived for Coastguard Rescue Officer Rachel Nicolls-Lee as the Marathon des Sables gets underway!

Over the last few days, Rachel has finished packing her running kit, travelled to Morocco, arrived at the first bivouac, completed technical and medical checks, had her pack weighed to ensure it meets the requirements, fitted tracking and emergency beacons and within the next two hours will set off on the day 1 of the 37th Marathon des Sables!

Described as the toughest footrace on earth, the Marathon des Sables is an ultra-marathon which takes participants 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days, carrying everything they need for the entire time with the exception of a tent.

Despite being in the middle of the Sahara Desert, you can track Rachel’s progress online and send her messages of support thanks to the wonders of modern technology. Visit https://live.marathondessables.com/en/ and click on ‘Access The Live’ to track Rachel or click on ‘Write to a runner’ to send her a message.

Rachel’s run number is 1168 and tent number (required for messages) is 93.

You can donate to Rachel’s epic fundraising challenge at https://www.gofundme.com/f/from-sea-to-sand with all money raised going to The Coastguard Association – the charity dedicated to supporting Coastguard personnel and their families in their time of need.

MdS Photo: Franck Oddoux

There’s just one month to go until Coastguard Rescue Officer Rachel Nicholls-Lee from Falmouth heads off to the Sahara Desert for the Marathon des Sables.

Rachel will be running the 250km ultra-marathon through the Sahara over six days, carrying everything she needs in her backpack with the exception of her tent to raise money for The Coastguard Association – the charity dedicated to helping Coastguards in need.

This is no fun run with the Marathon des Sables regarded as the toughest foot race on Earth!

So what will the next few weeks involve for Rachel?

She said: “packing, unpacking, practice packing, panicking about straps breaking, 10 days of heat acclimatisation at Plymouth Marjon University in the sports lab, some more packing and last minute panic buying.”

Rachel has already raised an incredible amount of over £3000 for The Coastguard Association.

You can donate to Rachel’s epic fundraising challenge at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/from-sea-to-sand

Thank you Rachel for your amazing efforts and we will be posting regular updates across our social media feeds once Rachel sets off on the race.

Photo: Ian Corless

A Coastguard Rescue Officer from Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team is gearing up for an epic charity challenge to fundraise for The Coastguard Association.

Rachel Nicolls-Lee has signed up for an event described as the ‘toughest footrace on earth’ – an event which will take Rachel on a 250km route over six days through the Sahara Desert, completely unaided!

The Marathon Des Sables ultra-marathon will see Rachel running over 250km across the endless sand dunes, rocky jebels and white-hot salt plains of the Sahara Desert in Southern Morocco, carrying everything she needs to survive on her back all in aid to raise money for The Coastguard Association – the charity dedicated to supporting Coastguard personnel and their dependents in their time of need.

With just under six weeks to go before the event, Rachel has been getting the miles under her belt around Falmouth carrying full pack weight.

You can support Rachel’s fundraising efforts by donating at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/from-sea-to-sand

Thanks to Rachel for choosing to fundraise for The Coastguard Association and thank you to everyone for the continued support.