ULTRAMARATHON runner Dr Andrew Murray, 32, is coming to Kenya on 5th July for a month long visit to run at least one ultra marathon every day, including speedy hikes up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Kenya.
He will be testing his medical skills just as much as his running talents when he travels around Africa to launch a major sports science study aimed at improving the health and fitness of Scots.
Dr Murray will be volunteering at local hospitals and conducting extensive research on the lifestyles and training methods of Kenya’s superstar distance runners when not on the road to learn some tips that could help Scots runners.
He said: “The whole idea is bringing together my affection for Kenya, with my passion for distance running. I would like to work out just how so many Kenyans are so fast and find out information that can help feed into our athletes going into the Commonwealth Games and beyond.
“Some of the stats on Kenyan running are just absurd, they have dominated distance running in every recent World Championship and Olympics, and out of the top 100 marathon runners in the world, 66 of them are from Kenya.
“There is a small town called Iten where of the 4,000 people who live there, 800 are professional runners, and those guys are constantly inspiring the next generation who see that running can be an escape from poverty.
“It’s amazing to have so many great runners coming from one area, and it’s something I really want to study. It’s not just about genetics. Paula Radcliffe is one of the greatest distance runners and has very different genetics from runners in Kenya, so it can be done.
Dr Murray became Scotland’s best known ultra distance man by making it all the way to the Sahara desert on foot, and then became a record breaker by running a race on the seven continents in less than a week.
His new adventure will see him run at a constant high altitude (higher than Ben Nevis) to run at least 50 km each day for 18 days, including several mountain ascents.
Dr Murray will be arriving in Nairobi on July 5th and staying with friends in Nairobi before heading to Chogoria Hospital to spend Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th.
The group will then head round the mountain by the North and plan to climb Mount Kenya on Tuesday 9th July 2013.
He will use this chance to publicize palliative care as he is doing some fundraising for the same and speaks very well about the role of exercise in palliative care.
Andrew said: “Despite penicillin, despite rescue helicopters and despite all the amazing medical inventions, the death rate is still 100 percent worldwide, and this is all about working to support people who are dying, and try to make it as pain free a process as possible.
“In some parts of Africa, it’s very difficult to get access to painkillers and a lot of people are dying in a lot of pain. There is good work happening in Africa, and I want to learn and share what we know in Scotland through the work of my Dad and other people like that.”
The group will be raising funds and awareness for African Palliative Care Association, to help stop people dying in pain. The University of Edinburgh currently has a large DFID funded project training nurses in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia, and funds we get will go towards ensuring morphine is available in the Kenyan hospitals and communities where they work.
The training is conducted by Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) to nurses from Nyeri Provincial General Hospital (PGH), Homa Bay District Hospital and at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). In addition KEHPCA has organized trainings to healthcare providers in health institutions where palliative care has been integrated.
They will also be taking vital medical supplies to Chogoria Hospital that has since integrated palliative care, where they used to work as missionary doctors (microscopes, stethoscopes, auroscopes, opthalmoscopes, BNF’s)
“It was a completely different way of life to grow up with, and we loved it. I have been back a few times working in the hospital myself and it’s a lot of hard work because if you think the NHS is stretched, then in Kenya it’s often two to a bed.”
To find out more about Andrew’s fundraising drive, visit www.docandrewmurray.com, view a two minute promo video here, sponsor via the Just Giving Website and follow his activities on twitter @Docandrewmurray.
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