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Erbish Gets Hitched
Many congratulations to Erbish who is due to be married on 25th March. Erbish lives in South Gobi province and took part in our 2006 and 2007 Gobi Challenges. All the team at Sandbaggers would like to wish you all the best for the future and thank the following people who contributed to the wedding gift of a ger: Paul Pringle, Simon Johnson, Bob Campbell and Simon Stanton. |
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2008 Route Confirmed
The Gobi Challenge 2008 route has now been confirmed and we are pleased to reveal that this will be the toughest, most undulating course we have yet offered. We will cover a record number of gorge routes and summit several more of the ‘high’ dunes than ever before. Total distance will of course be comparable with previous years. |
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| 1 Place Remaining Following the release of two provisionally held places on Gobi Challenge 2008 we can now offer these to anyone who wishes to join us this summer. If you are interested please email and we'll kick things off for you.
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Support Team Appointment We are pleased to announce the latest addition to our support team – Phil Briggs. The former Royal Marine will function as a search and rescue consultant and medic during our time in the Gobi . Phil has spent most of his adult life taking to the mountains and has served on Mountain Rescue Teams in Scotland for the last eight years. He also holds vast experience in the desert environment.
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Commando Joe A warm welcome to Clive Robertson and David Hartley who will be joining the Commando Joe team on our 2008 event. The guys are raising money for Meningitis Trust, an extremely worthwhile charity and one Sandbaggers are keen to support. Details of their exploits can be seen at www.commando-joe.co.uk
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Welcome A warm welcome goes out to seasoned ultra runner Mike Inkster. Mike has several desert and jungle ultra campaigns under his belt and we have little doubt his experience will prove a great asset to this years trip. Mike is also the founder and race director of The 50 Mile Challenge – details of which can be found at http://www.50milechallenge.co.uk/
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Welcome The sandbaggers team extends a warm welcome to England 's Chris Todd, the latest addition to our 2008 event.
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2008 now full
Our 2008 event is now fully subscribed. Unless you have a provisional booking I'm afraid we cannot guarantee any future potential entrants a place on the event. However, if you are interested in coming along please drop us a line and we can advise on availability should the situation change - as it often does on the run up to the event. We still have some places on our 2009 event, running 31st to 11th August 2009
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Geoff Head
Our latest sign up for our 2008 event is Englands Geoff Head. A warm welcome from the team Geoff!
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Welcome A warm welcome to Sue Kersley and Martin Like from Brecon who have signed up for our 2008 Gobi Challenge. Martin is a seasoned veteran of numerous ultra events and brings a wealth of experience to the field.
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Welcome A hearty welcome goes out to Ken Carter from Australia, a veteran of our 2007 event. Ken returns as support alongwith the second Australian to compete in our event. More details to follow...
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Meet The Team For those of you wanting to put some faces to names you can now view the 'meet the team' section of our site
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Seminar Many thanks to those of you who made it along to our seminar on 17th November. A very warm welcome to John Clifford and Tom Bond who will be joining us in 2008.
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Welcome
A very warm welcome to our latest 2008 sign up - Jamie Balmer from Edinburgh.
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Helvellyn Training Day
On Sunday 21st October we will be hosting a training day on the Lake Districts Helvellyn - start time 9am. We'll be meeting at a car park at Helvellyn Gill, approximately 1 Mile on the right hand side going South on the A591 past the Dalehill Hall Hotel. Please note there is a flat charge for the use of the carpark although we're unaware what the charge is! If you fancy joining us for a walk please drop david@sand-baggers.com a line so we'll know to look out for you. The team from Likeys will be present to answer any kit related queries you have.
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Camp Manager Appointed
We are pleased to confirm that our 2008 camp manager will be Raudy Lockhart. We've been after Raudy for this role for some time now and have no doubt his boundless enthusiasm, positivity and cracking sense of humour will leave a lasting impression on you all.
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Welcome
A very warm welcome to the latest member of Commando Joe to sign up - Richard Gannon. An equally warm welcome is extended to Englands Alex Latham-Boal.
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| Medics We are pleased to announce the latest addition to our medical team. Nicola Littlewood is an experienced doctor who has extensive experience in wilderness medicine. She brings a wealth of experience gained as a helicopter based doctor operating on Scotland's west coast and has recently provided medical support on a Chinese expedition. Nicola will be joining medics Scott Graham and Kit McKinley, the team who have been with us on the last three of our trips.
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Flights
For those of you flying from the UK flights from London Heathrow to Ulan Bator are now available. Amanda at Eastways Travel (Tel:0207 495 2425) is briefed on our plans and will take care of your booking if you drop her a line. Target departure date from London is 8th July for arrival in Mongolia on 10th July. Departure date from Mongolia should be 21st July unless you wish to factor in a few extra days in Ulan Bator.
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Team Ireland
A big welcome to Eoghan Carton, David Whelan and Donal McCann who will be joining us from Ireland. We now have teams from Ireland, Scotland, England, a mixed British team or two and, fingers crossed, teams from Australia and Mongolia vying for the team trophy.
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2008 Nominated Charities This year we will be supporting two charities for the first time - The Meningitis Trust and The Hope Centre. Like all charities, both of these extremely worthy causes are in constant need of funding so if you are interested in supporting either through your efforts on Gobi Challenge 2008 please click on our charity section for more information.
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Commando Joe A warm welcome to the Commando Joe team. Consisting of Pete Rowlands, David Rowlands and Mark Waterson (and others to be confirmed) the team will be taking part in Gobi Challenge 2008 in a bid to round off a series of three extreme challenges in aid of The Meningitis Trust. Details of their admirable and amazing feats can be found at Commando Joe.
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Welcome A big welcome to the following competitors who have recently signed up for our 2008 event: Jim Main, Giles Heeks, father and son Simon and Ryan Davies, 2006 vet Paul Anstruther, Charlie Martell and 2006 film crew member Gordon Napier. It's great to have you all on board.
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Gobi Challenge 2008 Applications are now invited for our 5th Gobi Challenge. The dates for this event will be 10th to 21st July 2008. As always, entry numbers will be restricted to preserve the quality of the race so if you are interested us please get in touch. We will be freezing the entry fee at £1400 with a 10% discount offered to anyone who signs up and pays their deposit by 31st August 2007.
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| Desert Racing Seminar Saturday 17th November, 1030-1600hrs, The Green Room, 37 Guthrie Street, Edinburgh Topics to be covered include desert survival, desert living and wellness, training, injury prevention and Gobi Challenge 2008 route. Speakers will include mds and Gobi Challenge veteran Scott Graham of Elite Training, Sports Scientist Kit McKinley, Gobi Challenge Race Director David Scott and many more. This is a great day for anyone with an interest in desert racing, the desert environment and participation in multi-day events such as Gobi challenge and the Marathon des Sables.
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2008 Participants This month we welcome back Jye Donaldson, Stevie Shedden, Nick Dillon and Stewart Barron and extend a warm welcome to Robert Holding who will be joining us for the first time in 2008.
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