Edinburgh runner to cross east Africa

Dr Andrew Murray: East Africa quest next month. Picture: Toby Williams

• Edinburgh doctor Andrew Murray will run for 18 days across east Africa next month

• Mr Murray will be joined by ex-marine Donnie Campbell, as well as world-record holders and world champions

Edinburgh doctor Andrew Murray will team up with former marine commando Donnie Campbell for the 18-day quest next month.

The pair will run more than 50km each day and scale both Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro during the feat. They will be joined by world-record holders and world champions along the route.

Kenya won 17 medals at the 2011 Athletics World Championships, with 10 going to former pupils of St Patrick’s High School in the town of Iten in the Rift Valley region.

Dr Murray, a sports and exercise medicine doctor with the sportscotland Institute of Sport, will explore how east African athletes are so successful.

He hopes that any lessons learned can help support Scottish runners as they prepare for the World Athletics Championships in Moscow and next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“There is no better way to find out what makes these athletes so fast than to spend time in their company and take on some of the biggest challenges east Africa has to offer,” he said.

“It’s all about learning from Africa. Sixty-six of the best 100 marathon runners in the world are from Kenya. Is this due to the training regime, genetic factors, the food that is eaten, the altitude, or other factors?”

Donnie Campbell, the Scottish 100km champion, said: “The consistent high altitude is likely to be brutal, quite apart from the mountains and the 350 or so kilometres per week.”

The duo will be raising money for the African Palliative Care Association and also aim to collect 500 pairs of trainers to take with them.

Dr Murray, who grew up in Kenya, ran 4,290km from John O’Groats to the Sahara desert in 2011. Last year he won the North Pole marathon and the Antarctic ice marathon, as well as completing a world record seven ultra-marathons on seven continents in under a week.