Sahara ultra-marathon 'tougher than expected'

Andrea Millar said the challenge was for a goddaughter with cerebral palsy "for sure"

A woman who ran an ultra-marathon in the Sahara desert admits she did not realise the "crazy, brutal race" would be as tough as it proved to be.

Mother-of-two Andrea Millar, from Nantwich, Cheshire, signed up for the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, which equates to about six regular marathons.

People take part in the 250km (155 miles) challenge over seven days.

Ms Millar, who has a 12-year-old goddaughter with cerebral palsy, raised money for disability charity Scope.

She had to carry everything she needed on her back throughout the challenge, last month.

Ms Millar said she trained "a huge amount for the race"

"It was a crazy, brutal race... I'm not gonna lie, I didn't realise it was going to be as tough as it really was, mentally and physically." she said.

Her preparations included spending time on a treadmill in extreme temperatures at Loughborough University.

In the challenge she was given "more or less" at every checkpoint eight to nine miles apart "two-litre bottles of water" and at the end of a race a five-litre bottle.

This was for tasks such as washing and brushing teeth and had to last until the following day.

At night she slept with "seven other tent mates".

People take part in the 250km (155 miles) challenge over seven days

Asked about the hardest thing mentally, she replied: "I think being out of contact, being off the grid from my family, my friends."

At night Ms Millar slept with "seven other tent mates"

Her goddaughter was born 16 weeks early and is deaf and physically disabled on the left side of her body, but "is now stronger than ever".

The runner added: "At my lowest moments when I was really in pain, I thought 'do you know what? This girl deals with this every single day and honestly she never moans... this isn't a lifetime Andrea, this is something you've just got to put up with'."

Asked about future challenges, the runner said the ultra-marathon had given her "a fire beyond fire"