EPMartin Returns to the Sahara

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

It was great to see Charlie again after only getting a sat call every so often for brief updates. I even had the opportunity to run with the guys for a day after crossing the Libyan border in the Egyptian town of Salum. The trip was an experience and adventure I will always remember and look back on with great memories.

Support Crew, Charle Engle, Jason Martin

The start of my trip went like this. I flew into Cairo and told the concierge at my hotel I needed to meet some friends in Libyia. He quickly responded, “I highly recommend not doing this.” So of course, I quickly arranged a local driver and we were off. I had not spoke with Charlie directly in a month or so and only knew he was running across the border town of Salum. There is only one road to Salum so I figured if we watched the other side we would eventually meet up. How could we miss an expedition in the middle of the desert? Twelve hours later and some second guessing on my decision, I arrived at the Libyan border with no expedition in sight. I convinced the driver to keep going and get to the security gate and see if they knew of the arrival of the runners. After ten minuets of phone calls and “negotiations” we were quickly escorted across the border and around security to find the expedition making arrangements to cross back into Egypt. It was good to finaly see Charlie and meet the expedition crew and movie producers . We had a good 3 hrs to catch up before our paper work cleared to cross the border. It was truly an adventurous start to the trip.

After spending a week in the Sahara with Charlie, Ray and Kevin I am amazed at the physical and mental strength of these amazing athletes. Every morning for the past 105 days they awake at 3:45 am for some bread, bad coffee and some leftovers then on the road running for 14 + hrs straight with a five minute break for a drink every 5K. I’m not sure these guys are aware yet of what they are about to accomplish.

Now just days away from the finish we wish Charlie, Ray and Kevin our best in this truly amazing accomplishment.

Charlie Engle