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Mark Cockbain, Ultra Runner

Mark Cockbain in Atacama Desert

Mark Cockbain has recently been competing in the Atacama Crossing in Chile where he proudly wore the PT-03 DESERT shoes. He finished 7th with a time of 36hrs 19mins. The Atacama Crossing is part of the 4 Deserts, named by TIME magazine as #2 on its list of the Top 10 Endurance Competitions in the world! http://www.4deserts.com/atacamacrossing

About Mark Cockbain, by Mark Cockbain...   I started seriously running in at the end of 1996 to train for the 1997 London marathon... but unfortunately I didn't get my entry accepted.   I ran the Paris marathon instead, and then I got the running bug and went on to complete more marathons including several London marathons in the following years. I’ve now ran over 150 marathons. I then decided that I needed a bigger challenge, so I entered the 2000 Marathon Des Sables (MDS) and I started running ultras to train for this. I successfully completed the race in 32 hours, finishing in the top 100.   More ultra races followed, including the Jordan Desert Cup, Comrades, and the classic London to Brighton.   In 2001 I ran my first Grand Union Canal Race, a 145 mile non-stop ultra from Birmingham to London, which I have gone on to finish four times now, with my best time being 34 hours and 44 mins.

Mark Cockbain in Atacama Desert2 After this I wanted to see if an amateur runner like me could finish the hardest ultras in the world and I set out to enter them all.

One of the hardest races is the Spartathlon, a 153 mile non-stop run from Athens to Sparta, and I have managed to finish this race five consecutive times to date. My best time for this race is 34:23.   The Yukon Arctic Ultra was another challenge, where I ran 320 miles non-stop, in temperatures as low as -40C. I finished in 6th place overall.

I love desert running, and I once ran 333km (over 200 miles) non-stop across the desert in Niger, Africa to complete the Trans 333. I finished in second place. One of my proudest achievements was when I completed the Death Valley 300 (Double Badwater crossing), becoming only the 20th person in the world to do this. I have now completed the Badwater Ultra race four times.

Recently I completed the Thames Ring, which is the longest ever non-stop ultra staged in the UK. The route was 250 miles long along rivers and canals. I finished in 5th place. I have many more challenges ahead, and soon I will be attempting to run from John O Groats to Lands end in the JOGLE race, running around 55 miles per day for two weeks.

Then in 2011, I will be one of several competitors in the Trans USA Race. An epic 3,100 mile race from Los Angeles to New York in 71 days…

Useful Websites:
http://www.markcockbain.com