A Galway woman undertook eight months of intensive training before tackling one of the world’s toughest endurance events – a 250km race across the Sahara Desert – in memory of her mother and to raise funds in her memory.

Áine Kenny from Cloonlyon, Ballygar, completed the Marathon des Sables ultra-marathon in the Sahara Desert, last month, raising almost €7,400 for Galway Hospice in the process.

“I’ve been fundraising for the Galway Hospice in memory of my mother, Rosaleen. She was very well cared for during her very short time there in August 2023 before sadly passing away on September 1 that year,” she said.

The Marathon des Sables is a six-stage ultra marathon with a total distance of 250km and is widely regarded as being one of the toughest footraces in the world. Each stage varies in distance with the longest day being approx. 83km.

But what really gives this race its legendary status is that participants are required to be self-sufficient for the week.

That meant that, for the race, Áine was required to carry all of her food supplies for seven days as well as her sleeping bag, sleeping mat, stove and fuel – and a list of mandatory equipment required by the event organisers.

The only thing provided to the participants was water at checkpoints located every seven-to-twelve-kilometres along the course and a shelter, which Áine described as basically some open-sided tents held up by a few sticks.

Participants also received five litres of water each evening that had to supply them until the first check point on the following day. Áine had about 11kgs in her rucksack starting off on day one plus 1.5 litres of water.

“One of the biggest challenges posed by the race are the high temperatures,” she said.

“Temperatures can reach well in excess of 40 degrees Celsius and have exceeded 50 degrees Celsius in previous editions of the race.

“We were quite fortunate this year in that we were not subjected to such extreme temperatures. We had a real mix of weather between heat – high 30s/low 40s in the late morning/afternoon – thunder and lightning storms, sandstorms and even rain; yes, it rains in the Sahara!

“Such weather is becoming more common in the Sahara due to the impacts of climate change. We even had a few collapsed tent episodes during the nights due to the force of the sandstorms!” she added,

Despite the crazy weather and lack of sleep, Áine completed the race on Saturday, April 12, along with 14 other colleagues coached by Galway’s extreme adventurer, transatlantic rower and former Connacht Rugby star Damian Browne.

“We were well prepared for the race following an intense training program led by Damian for the eight months prior to the race. It was an incredible, yet challenging, experience,” said Áine.

There were 52 nationalities represented in the race, including over 30 Irish. Over 900 participated in the race with about 850 completing it successfully.

“The atmosphere at the campsites each evening was amazing. It was such a wonderful and well organised event,” said Áine.

Stage four of the race is known as the ‘long day’ – and certainly the toughest day, particularly the last 25k or so.

“I’d never run/walked that distance in one go before, so it was a shock to the system. The mental strength had to kick in at that stage to get me to the end of it!” said Áine.

“There were still two stages to complete after that – a 42km stage and 21km to finish. But once the long day was done, I felt that I’d broken the back of it, and nothing was going to stop me from completing it.”

Not that her fundraising efforts ended there because she has since hosted a Coffee Morning in Ballygar Courthouse on Easter Sunday after she returned home from Morocco.

And that helped her raise almost €7,400 – well in excess of her €5,000 target – which she presented to Galway Hospice last week.

“I’d like to thank everyone that donated very generously to this very worthy cause, to all those that helped with hosting the coffee morning and to Ballygar Tidy Towns for the use of the courthouse for the event.

“Overall, I was very happy with how it went. It was incredibly tough but very rewarding and worth all the time and effort I put in preparing for it.”

Pictured: Áine Kenny at full pelt coming down the sand dunes during the Marathon des Sables.