Paul Tonkinson is writing a book about defying ageing by running an ultra-marathon across the Sahara Desert.
The 56-year-old comedian ran 'the toughest foot race on Earth’ – the week-long, 155-mile Marathon des Sables Legendary – in April
Taking place over six stages, the event is a self-sufficient race, meaning that participants carry all their clothing, sleeping equipment, food and personal belongings. Runners must tackle near-vertical sand dunes and water is strictly rationed. Three runners have died taking part over the years.
After completing the event, where he faced temperatures of up to 38C, Tonkinson posted that he was ‘shattered and ecstatic’.
His account of his experience – Running Through Sand: An Ageing Comedian's Ill-Thought-Out Ultra In The Sahara – will be published by Bloomsbury Sport on May 21.
It is the comic’s second running-related memoir for the publisher, following 2020's 26.2 Miles To Happiness. Subtitled A Comedian's Tale of Running, Red Wine and Redemption, it recounted his attempt to complete the London Marathon in under three hours and to 'negotiate' his relationship with alcohol.
Speaking to former Manchester United footballer Brian McLair on his Life With Brian podcast, Tonkinson said that calling the Legendary event a 'race' is a bit of a misnomer.
The comic explained that 'you run and walk some sections of it … the longest day was 52 miles, that was the longest I've ever travelled in one day on foot. And that got pretty messy because it's in the desert and it's pretty hot and there was an hour stage between sort of 25 and 30 miles where I was sort of hallucinating. So that was quite intense.’
The book's blurb reveals that the Legendary ultramarathon has been a long-held goal for Tonkinson. But the comic discovered ‘ageing as a runner is no joke… in running, as in life, you are gradually overtaken by a stream of young people wearing clothes you couldn't get into and in shoes you don't recognise’.
He suffered several injuries while training, explaining that 'calves explode, tendons pop, knees disintegrate’ but he finally got fit enough to tackle the race in 2024. But them in a freak accident he was run over by dogs and hospitalised, scuppering his chances.
However he got into this year’s event – but with just two months’ notice.
Tonkinson, who hosts the Running Commentary podcast with fellow comic Rob Deering, raised more than £6,000 for breast cancer research from the Legendary event, which took him 47hrs 33min to complete. And ten days later, he ran the London marathon.
Previous participants in the Legendary event include adventurers Sir Ranulph Fiennes, former rower James Cracknell, ex-footballer Luis Enrique, Ozzy Osbourne's son Jack, who pulled out at the second stage, and Cactus, a stray dog who joined at that point but completed the course to receive a winner's medal.
During the 1994 event one runner was taken 181 miles off course by a harsh sandstorm and was lost for 10 days.
Running Through Sand: An Ageing Comedian's Ill-Thought-Out Ultra In The Sahara is available for advance order through Amazon – or from uk.bookshop.org, below, which supports independent bookstores.
– by Jay Richardson
