A MOTHER-OF-FIVE completed one of the toughest footraces on the planet to raise money for a charity that helps makes childbirth safer.

Rebecca Ferry, who lives in Norham Gardens, Oxford, braved temperatures of up to 50C and finished 164th out of 1,400 competitors in the gruelling Marathon Des Sables.

The 36-year-old finished 11th of the women, and had juggled the role of being a full-time mum to Bea, 11, Tom, nine, Alice, eight, Ed, seven and Iris, five, while training for the 156-mile race.

She said: “It’s been a year’s worth of gradual training and I have spent a lot of time in the parks and running in the streets of Oxford.

“It’s been really hard but I used to run on the treadmill before the kids got up and then I would do the school run, come back, run and shower, have something to eat, do some yoga and then back to the school run.

“The kids had stuff on so like any parent I would become a taxi service at times. It was a high balancing act.”

The six-day ultramarathon through the Sahara Desert in Africa involves competitors running over a treacherous landscape while carrying every item they need to survive.

A typical Saturday morning run would see the fulltime mum cover between 20 and 30 miles as she explored the city by running down the Thames towpaths and through the University Parks.

She has raised about £4,000 for Borne, which aims to prevent still and premature births.

She said: “My husband was very understanding and the children supported me throughout. When I was off running at 6am on a Saturday he would take over looking after the kids. He’s been great.

“I wanted to raise money for a new charity Borne which was started up by Professor Mark Johnson, who delivered all of my children.

I thought I could hopefully raise enough to make a difference to someone.”

In the heat of the desert she ran 92.7km, a distance she had never run before.

She added: “I said to my husband Andrew that I would love to do something like the Marathon Des Sables and he said the immortal words: ‘Oh you won’t do that’. So I thought: ‘Well, I have to do it’.

“I have always been a runner but I stopped running as much when I started working and had my children.

“Doing the Marathon Des Sables has been an experience.

I met a lot of people, it took a lot of physical and mental strength but I’ve had great support from everyone.”

Prof Mark Johnson said: “I am very moved by Rebecca’s incredible achievement. I feel driven all the harder by her personal sacrifice to Borne. Until we understand the fundamentals of pregnancy, we have no prospect of improvement.”

Factfile

THE Marathon Des Sables website says the ultramarathon is equivalent to “running from London to Dover, deciding not to go to France after all, and running back again in 120 degree heat”.

The distance 156 miles [251km] is broken down into six stages, the longest of which is 81.5km on day four.

The rules require runners to be self-sufficient and carry on their back everything needed to survive except water.

Participants are given a place in a tent to sleep at night, but any other equipment and food must be carried. The race was started in 1986 by Patrick Bauer and is now in its 28th consecutive year.

Under the scorching Moroccan sun, days are spent running across saltpans, up desert mountains and through ruined towns and occasional sand storms.

This year explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 71, the first person to reach both the North and South Poles, became the oldest Briton to complete the ultramarathon – despite having suffered two heart attacks and undergoing a double heart bypass.