Cancer sucks, we all know this, we hear about it almost everyday and when it kills someone we love we hate it even more. Cancer will not go away until we find a cure or a way to prevent it. Cancer can strike any of us or our families and friends at any time. None of us are immune. Research is the only way we can discover how to eliminate it. 

However research is very very expensive. The worldwide cancer foundations share information and work closely together to find a cure. We can help them speed up this process by raising money for research.

So here is the deal, I need you to sponsor me with my crazy desert challenge. All the money raised will go directly to finding a cure (all my costs to compete are paid solely by me). You will be helping every person that has cancer and any of us that may some day be exposed to it. 

Earlier this year my brother David Le Bas died from Kidney cancer, Dave was 58yrs old with a young family. (Photo above Dave and his youngest daughter Alison) Dave was a fighter and firmly believed that a cure for his type of cancer was close, new medications came out during his illness which allowed him survive longer than previous cancer patients, but sadly this research and development did not come fast enough. 

I am dedicating my challenge to the memory of Dave, and I am hopeful this effort will raise money and in some small but significant way help find a cure for cancer.

My Challenge : I will be taking part in the "Atacama Crossing" a 155 mile 7 day running race across the Chilean desert (Oct 4th-10th). The rules are simple, I will carry everything I need to survive (food/medical supplies) on my back. The terrain is harsh at an altitude of 11,000ft it crosses giant deep sand dunes, ice cold rivers and long hot salt plains. It is considered one of the toughest endurance races in the world. You can check out this bizarre race and follow my progress on the official 4 deserts website.

http://www.4deserts.com/atacamacrossing/

Every penny counts: no one needs to know how much you donate/sponsor, you decide what you are willing to put towards this cause. Ultimately "you may be doing yourself a favor".

Thank you for visiting my JustGiving Page in memory of David Le Bas. If you’d like to make a donation to Irish Cancer Society I’d be very grateful, as it will help them work to eliminate cancer. Thank you.

Donating is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Peter's Daily Blog from the 155mile race in the Atacama desert, Chile 

BLOG sent nightly from cyber tent during race.

Day #1, So, after 8 months of training and 27 hours of travel Andy Salamone and I got to San Pedro Chile (with 163 Athletes from 37 countries) which is literally in the middle of the desert.
From there we were taking by bus even deeper into the Atacama desert. Camp was very basic, 10 of us from all over the world slotted like fish fingers on a rocky floor. Now i'm not a camper, the last time I camped I was 11yrs old and it was in my back garden in Dublin, and I am pretty sure Mum made us abandon the tent at 10pm, so this was a big shock to the system. By 8pm the temp dropped to -3 and left no alternative other than go to bed and try and keep warm with every piece of clothing, hats, gloves, jacket I had with me. Surprisingly i slept on and off but was ready to get up by 5am when the camp fire was restarted. It was a very cold start to the race, So I had no choice but to take off as fast as i could and try and warm up. Somewhere in the hustle I lost Andy. I got caught up with a fast group and followed a very pretty English girl for miles who happened to be one of the fastest racers, after losing her on a steep hill i trotted on by myself for hours and managed to finish the first day 34th out of 161. Andy showed up later in one piece. The temp rose to 100deg and the terrain I found very difficult, but somehow managed to keep going. Exhausted now the talk is all about day two, apparently tougher and longer than today. It includes 8 km of water crossings and deep sand hills, so Blisters are a huge concern especially as I lost my toe nail today to a blister...eeekkk, however I am doing this for a cause, I firmly believe that research research research is the only way of finding a cure for Cancer, and i really hope this small challenge i am doing will get the attention and awareness and maybe another family won't lose a dad a husband an uncle a friend like our family have.
SUPPORT NOW the link is on the Irish Cancer society web site or go to the link on my FB page, Peter R Le Bas. I am trying very hard to show my challenge by hopefully keeping up with the top athletes, Iron Men and Woman winners that are half my age. Until tomorrow..... smile emoticon

"Day 2, 28miles, PAIN-PAIN-PAIN,,,, The word has new meaning to me, It all started at 5am after a restless night I decided to try and sit up in my sleeping bag, nothing worked, all joints were ceased and incredibly painful, The good news was this took my mind off my ripped up feet. Before I knew it I was trying to put my 27ib back pack on my aching shoulders and walk to the start line, The whistle blew and off we went, 160 cranky runners charging down a canyon towards a river bed in the early morning cold, The pretty English girl who I managed to follow for a few miles yesterday asked me to follow her and help her through the river crossings then she took off like a rabbit and I did not see her for the rest of the race. There were 30+ river crossings through a canyon pass and the water was freezing, the good news was this numbed me from the waist down so temporary relief until the chill set in to the rest of the body, that was surprisingly fun as the pace was good and I managed to pass a lot of competitors in that section, The day got progressively more painful and I constantly questioned why anyone would be foolish enough to take part in such an event but I kept remembering this was to create awareness and raise money for cancer research, so I marched on. The views Were spectacular all day but every time I looked up to view it I kicked a rock and came out with some choice words echoing through the canyons. It was a very difficult day today, it took me over 8hrs to navigate up mountains, down steep sand hills across the most awful crusty fields of soft sand with a hard top layer that with every step you sunk through it and into the sand, I honestly did not think I was going to finish today but pushed on in the soaring heat of the hostile desert. Tomorrow it all starts again, so until then, SUPPORT MY CAUSE Cancer research worldwide, see previous blog for info.

I AM SENDING THIS BLOG FROM A CYBERNET TENT, IT DOES NOT HAVE INTERNET, EVERY NIGHT THE BLOGS ARE SENT BY SATALITE, SO EXCUSE SPELLINGS AS I AM LIMITED TO 15 MIN USE."

"Day 3, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” (mainly Andy’s) 25.5 miles today, 75miles total (almost half way point). If I was at home, I would have called in sick today, honestly I may have even gone to the ER, but there is no mercy in this “boot camp to beat all boot camps”, After a miserable start at 5am to a cold morning and 15 minutes trying to get my runners on over some very nasty cuts and blisters we were once again at the start line all juiced up and ready to go, As per normal we went charging off (pure adrenaline) with everyone else, after all you don’t want to be that guy that walks out of the start. It did not take long for the pain to really kick in but we trunged on. The first 17 miles of terrain was unbelievable miserable, I can’t even describe it other than slow and painful, by about the 12 mile mark I was literally ready to give up, it took everything in me to keep going, every step prompted the worst curse words I could think of, I wanted to shout, scream, cry it was MISERABLE, I honestly have never done anything this painful and difficult in my life, we trained hard and we are absolutely 100% fit and able for the heat and the mileage, what we did not train for was the miserable pain, but every time I felt my bruised kidney from the back pack I thought this is nothing compared to what my brother David went through when he had a cancerous kidney tumour, and every time I felt the throbbing headache from the beating sun I thought nothing compared to the pain of Daves brain tumour and the nauseous stomach was nothing compared to the daily feeling Dave lived with from the chemo and meds in his final months, All these thoughts just made me feel really stupid and pathetic by next week I will be home licking my wounds, cancer victims don’t have that luxury they just have to hope a cure will be found and so that carried me through the day. by mile 17 check point we sought medical assistance and got some outrageous blisters drilled and shoulders strapped, (the med team who are all wonderful, first class athlete doctors and surgeons that give you top attention) Once again with a new charge we ran on faster than expected as it was now our kind of terrain, rocky slabs, hills to climb, long deep sand up and down over large dunes, all our training was climbing so the legs are super strong, we passed over 20 competitors to finish in the 80’s, Andy took a fall over a rocky section and is currently in the med tent getting his knee bandaged up, but he will be fine. So, if you are reading this at Starbucks sipping your morning cappuccino and nibbling on your muffin, consider skipping it tomorrow and putting that money to cancer research, there is a link on my face book page Peter R Le Bas or the Irish Cancer society or check out an earlier blog of mine. Every penny counts and I need everyone’s help sharing these blogs, I was hoping to raise at least $10k but fear I am way off L, Andy and I will be out here at Silly o’clock ready again for a 27+ mile day and hopefully this will get some attention for cancer research worldwide."

"Day 4, 28.5 miles, total to date 100+.. No one said it would be easy, after all it is an endurance race considered possibly the toughest in the world and each day it gets “incredibly harder”, I don’t even know where to start today,,, but here we go, “Pain IS present”, it hurts to type right now. we are meant to eat 2000 calories a day, this is impossible No one seems to have an appetite both Andy and I have problems getting in 1500 cals a day and we are burning 7000-10000 a day, so we are losing weight to beat the band we figure 3ibs a day, the ultimate diet right? Anyway we took off up over soft sand dunes mile after mile with the herd, One thing I keep telling my self is everyone is in the same boat, everyone is hurting and today it was very obvious, We ploughed through more water crossings and climbed over rocks and more soft sand down to the base of the salt dry lake, by the time we got to stage 3 we needed medical attention, our feet were shot, I had to get 2 more toenails drilled and lots of nasty blisters treated, The next 20 miles were horrific over the salt beds, with surprise muddy crossings that destroyed our new bandages, it was a long 10.5hr day in the scorching sun, we limped into camp and went straight to the medics, Andy also has some major ankle issues, so much more to write but the cyber tent is closing down now as its late and we have our biggest day tomorrow, it is make or brake, 46 grooling miles, should take 18-24 hours of straight limp running “if” we make it to camp then I am almost sure we will make it to the final day. Just to make it more challenging we are expecting the first rains in centuries tomorrow. And just so we don’t get off track too much, support cancer research, NO ONE IS IMMUNE."

If you want to show your support then please donate to his cancer research campaign. https://www.justgiving.com/Peter-Le-Bas

"Day 5, 46.5 miles, 17.5 hours, total distance to date 151 miles almost 6 marathons (or 330,000 painful steps) in 5 days and one hour. This was the big one, we were warned when starting that there were sections of the course that no easy rescue was possible and with no shade, it was all about survival, we started off “limp running” at a nice steady pace but within 5 miles we were in unfriendly marshy wet lands on the way to the salt plains just what we did not want for such a long distance ahead, our shoes were soaking and full of wet mud, this destroyed all the bandages and by mile 15 big blisters were slowing us down, to add to this Andy’s ankle swelled up (which matched his knee from the cliff incident) Andy the trooper needed medical assistance but would not quit and after a brief emotional discussion we decided to carry on and get help at CP3, when we got there the wonderful Dr. Nancy (sports ankle surgeon) did magic on Andy and patched him up, I got my ripped up blisters wrapped and off we went once again, It was very VERY tough going all day, the sun was scorching hot and the terrain the worst we had seen all week, I would love to say I enjoyed the scenery but I could not look up for a second as the ground was unpredictable, there were ledges we crossed one at a time with some serious drops into deep canyons and deep sand. We thought we had seen the last of the water but had to cross a wet swampy creek that we sunk in up to our knees, this once again screwed up our bandages, but we had to carry on. By mile 26 (marathon distance) we came to what we were told was going to be the hardest section , it was a huge steep climb up a mountain on loose soft sand, I was feeling a bit off but decided it was just from few calories. There we re-hydrated and carried on. At the base of the sand mountain we stopped and invented some gaiters out of a sleeve of a shirt , strapped them up with bandages and started climbing, the sun was setting and the wind picked up a sand storm of high winds and small sand tornados came flooding down across the sand this made it hard to see and it felt like we were been sand blasted. Ironically actually ended up been our best section of the day, all our training climb/running over the Hollywood hills in the heat paid off big time, we were like mountain goats up and over the mountain. By the time we got to the top darkness set in, the course is roughly marked with glow sticks and our head lamps worked well (until they didn’t 10 min later) , this meant we needed our small hand held back up lamps for the next 18 miles, not ideal but better than nothing. It got very cold and dark fast, and we were exhausted, but this is a race and we were pushing to keep going, the last 6 miles were miserable, MISERABLE, it felt like they took forever, Exhausted, limping, shivering from pain we hobbled into the final check point at 1:30am (17.5 hours later) as I write this there are competitors still coming in (10:30 am), There were 163 starters and approx. 140 finishers, lots of injuries, some serious, tomorrow is the final 8k sprint to the official finish in San Pedro. It’s crazy what the body can endure when pushed passed its limits, just looking around at the remaining athletes in the camp today it’s a sad sight of hobbling tired worn out bodies roaming in silence. Why would anyone ever want to do this?, well everyone has their reasons, I have heard lots of compelling stories, for me it was to raise awareness and money for cancer research, When I heard about this race in January I immediately thought this could be a way to support my brother David’s fight to live. Sadly Dave died in March … but if I can help raise money to find a cure for cancer then it was all worth while, and I would do it all again.
A huge shout out to my buddy Andy Salamone for his support and endurance every day this week. I have no contact with the outside world since I got here (other than the awesome motivating messages I have got, thank you they lifted me daily), I have no idea how much has been raised for my cause I only hope that my target of $10k was reached, if not I will be disappointed smile emoticon …, for those that already supported Thank you. You may have just done yourself a huge favour if you are ever unlucky enough to get cancer or know someone who does, you have supported a cause that is the ONLY way to a world without cancer RESEARCH. For those that have not there is still time, just remember “NONE OF US ARE IMMUNE”

Signing off, p.