Fiona Oakes takes on ‘World’s Toughest Footrace’

Training for the events has been crammed into an already extreme lifestyle as Fiona continues to care almost singlehandedly for 400 animals on her sanctuary in Essex as well as working as a retained firefighter. It has involved cycling on a stationary bike in a sauna, speed training and of course some extended long runs.

Fiona has been very open about the fact that her motivation to succeed in this event is the prospect of promoting veganism.

"The thought of saving the lives of innocent animals is my main motivation to be so committed and sacrifice so much for my training. To lead by example and to show people that a vegan diet is in no way prohibitive to sporting excellence. If by doing this I can convince just one person (hopefully more) to consider a vegan lifestyle then this is all the reward I need for my efforts."

Fiona is looking for sponsorship, which would be enormously appreciated. Please go to http://www.fionaoakes.com/MdS2012.htmlwhere you can pledge online.

She is also keen to maximise publicity.

"Can you imagine the impact when the likes of Gordon Ramsay hits out with another rant about how he hates vegans as they are weak and frail, to be able to retaliate with the fact that a vegan woman has completed the Marathon des Sables (and is well over an hour faster than him in a Marathon too)?"