Do you fancy running 150 miles across the Sahara desert? Steve does (From Bucks Free Press)

Do you fancy running 150 miles across the Sahara desert? Steve does

5:33pm Wednesday 6th April 2005 in News By Rachel Sixsmith

Really Wild Show presenter Steve Backshall tells Rachel Sixsmith why he is willing to go on the toughest race on earth.

“THE sweltering heat is so stifling you can barely catch your breath as you struggle to run across the sand." "The air is hotter than the inside of a sauna, your heavy bag is hurting your shoulders and you’re desperate to rest your tired legs, but as you squint into the horizon and see nothing but sand dunes, you know that you have to keep running.” This is not an account of a dream or a scene from a film, but what Steve Backshall, known to thousands as the presenter on CBBC’s Really Wild Show, has to look forward to next week.

He is taking part in the Marathon des Sables: a week-long, 150-mile run across the Sahara Desert. It is known as ‘the toughest footrace on earth’.

I met Steve in his house in Wooburn Green where he was putting together the final preparation for the marathon which begins on April 8.

“I looked at the race a few year’s ago and thought: “It’s insane. No human being can ever do that.’ But then I realised that I am capable of doing it and I should do it. In fact, it’s the biggest challenge I could set myself at this point in my life,” ys the 31-year-old.

“I have always had big ideas and big goals and I am never satisfied unless I am busy preparing for my next big challenge.” He is taking part in the marathon in aid of the Wolf Trust to raise wolf awareness in Britain.

Stephen is a great animal-lover and shares his home with unusual pets – geckos, snakes, spiders and other creep-crawlies lurk in the nooks and crannies of his living room.

He tells me his passion for animals comes from growing up on a farm in Surrey.

“I would milk the goats and feed the chickens before I went to school,” recalls Steve, whose job on the Really Wild Show takes him to the far corners of the globe in search of wild animals.

“It’s my favourite job, so far,” admits Steve, whose last Really Wild Show assignment took him to Costa Rica.

“I am given an amazing amount of freedom with the job. They say to me: ‘just see what you can find’ and I spend weeks overturning rocks.” The globe-trotting lifestyle clearly suits Steve, an English graduate who enjoyed travel writing and making his own documentaries for the National Geographic before he worked for the BBC.

“I’ve already done several very intense treks in the desert, in temperatures of up to 50 degrees, so I know how hard it’s going to be,” admits Steve, who has trekked across Israel’s Negev desert and the desert in Sinai, Egypt.

In fact, he is just as passionate about endurance-based and extreme sports as he is about animals.

“I have just been to the Breacon Beacons where I jogged for 35 miles in snowy, hail conditions with 50 mph winds,” reveals Steve, who has spent months preparing himself for the marathon.

“I have also trained in Snowdonia and in the South Coast on shingled beaches to help me get used to the desert terrain, but most of my training is done around here.” Those living in Wooburn Green may have seen Steve running from his Wooburn home through Burnham Beeches, Marlow, Bourne End and Flackwell Heath.

“The best thing about living here is that I can run from my front door for 20 miles and back without having to go on the road “I never run road races like the London Marathon. It’s too monotonous. I like beautiful scenery and the desert is the most exciting environment. I like being outside in beautiful places. If it was not that way I wouldn’t do it.” “And the desert has its own sounds that are wonderful. The night time in the desert is the most remarkable time.” While running the race, Steve will have to carry his food and clothing on his back.

“It’s all freeze-dried, vacuum-packed food. But I’m making sure that mine is packed with calories.

“The majority of people doing races like this are all my height but they weigh about 60kg – I weigh 90kg and I eat like a hog. I know people who are doing this race are just taking a couple of Garibaldi biscuits. But I need at least 4,000 calories a day,” admits Steve, who plays rugby in Marlow.

“My friends at the rugby club think I am super fit, but the competitors make me look unfit in comparison.” People who win the Marathon des Sables average about nine miles per hour for the entire race, and the people who finish last will average about two miles per hour. Steve is hoping to be in the middle.

Steve will be spurred by the knowledge that he is running the race for a good cause.

“Wolves are the ultimate symbol of the wild but they are in a terrible state world wide”, says Steve, who became fascinated with the creatures when he travelled to Portugal whilst doing a story on how wolves and people could live in harmony – an idea that the Wolf Trust is promoting through its educational wolf centre in Scotland.

“In Norway, for example, there are only 20 wolves left.

“It terrifies me what we are doing to our environment and I do not want to see them go.

“We see images of animals such as lions and elephants so often, you almost get used to seeing them, but when you see a wolf in real life you realise that they are completely hypnotic. They have the most extraordinary eyes, for example.” Steve says that all of the human worries about wolves have been unfounded.

“There has never been a recorded killing of humans by wolves. They have never been a threat to our livelihood and I do not want to see them disappear.” Wolves used to live in this country but, according to Steve, their extinction could have been caused by man’s dislike of carnivores.

“Whenever carnivores such as wolves or foxes come into contact with humans or livestock, we persecute them.

“In fact, working in the media with wild animals has made me very aware of our fascination with potentially dangerous animals, and quite how much we like to exaggerate their threat, and quite how little danger they actually pose to us.

“An educated reintroduction of wolves would be a very positive step in the right direction," says Steve, who is making a video of his experience in the desert.

And as if that is not enough for one year, the young presenter is already planning his next adventure.

“Later on in the year I am going mountaineering in the Himalayas,” he smiles.

To sponsor Steve visit www.wolftrust.org.uk/stevebackshall.html