A Katherine Hospital doctor will undertake his penultimate trial when he runs across the Sahara Desert in seven days during October for the "4 Deserts" challenge.
The "4 Deserts" race is an international sporting event consisting of a series of seven-day, 250-kilometre footraces across four of the largest, most forbidding deserts in the world - Atacama, South America; Gobi, China; Sahara, Africa; and Antarctica.
Dr Paul Liebenberg, 33, has already run across Chile's Atacama Desert and China's Gobi Desert this year as part of the race.
He says that coming from a triathlon background he was interested in a real challenge.
"I've run the 66km Jatbula trail three times already and have got my time for it down to just 8 hours and 45 minutes - I think that might even be a record.
"In China's Gobi Desert I ran 30-40 km every day and ended up in 10th place overall and 2nd place in my age group," he says.
The race across the Sahara begins in Cairo on October 26 with around 150 other competitors.
Although Dr Liebenberg says living in the NT has prepared him for the heat and humidity, he adds that the only way he could stay focused in such a gruelling marathon is to do it for a charity.
"It's the only way to stay motivated. Enduring in these races really is 50% physical fitness and 50% mental focus.
"A supermarket chain in South Africa will pay US$10,000 to SOS Children's villages if I achieve a top 10 placing and $25,000 if I win the race," he says.
Dr Liebenberg will be vying against the USA's Dean Karnazes to be the first in the world to complete all '4 desert' races in a calendar year.
For more information on the 4 Deserts event visit www.4deserts.com
Media Contact: Cameron Jackson, DHF Media Liaison Officer 0401 116 144
Release date: 12 September 2008
