John Holley, from High Wycombe, is set to take on the toughest foot race on Earth, the Marathon des Sables, to raise money for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity in memory of his grandfather who was a Royal Marine.
On 21st April, John will run 156 miles in the middle of the Sahara Desert over 6 days. The Marathon des Sables is known to be one of the most gruelling races in the world and requires participants to be well-prepared both physically and mentally.
John has chosen to raise money for the Royal Marines Charity in memory of his grandfather Jim (Ivor) Pook who was a Royal Marine. His grandfather’s life was filled with determination, physicality, irreverence, acerbic wit, and intellect that he admires greatly. When his grandfather passed away, the Royal Marines sent a bugler to play the Last Post at his funeral, an honour which he found particularly touching.
“It inspires me when I think of his many lives, starting in a working-class family in Southampton, graduating from Cambridge, serving in 40 Commando of the Royal Marines, mapping parts of Uganda as a Chartered Surveyor, running a dairy farm in Dorset and giving spine-crushing hugs and extremely dangerous gifts (machetes, knives, bayonets, spears, axes) to grandchildren. His life tells a story of determination, physicality, irreverence, acerbic wit and intellect that I admire increasingly as I live out my slightly less colourful life.”
John has received support from the Human Performance Laboratory at Buckinghamshire New University’s High Wycombe Campus during his preparation for this mammoth challenge. The laboratory staff constructed a heat chamber to evaluate and track John’s physiological responses and adaptation to running in high-temperature environments, providing him with insights to refine his training regimen.
