Chiswick Man Beats Injury to Run in Sahara

Luke Tyburski will raise money for children’s cancer charity

The power of mind over matter will be tested when a Chiswick man overcomes football injuries to undertake a 250 km footrace through the Sahara desert in April.

Luke Tyburski (29), who has lived in W4 for four years, will raise money for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent Children, by doing the Marathon des Sables. The gruelling race starts on April 8th and donations can be made on http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LukeTyburski

“Up until about 5 months ago I was a broken down football player, with the previous 3 years of my career being riddled with surgeries, muscle tears, and too many injections to count.

After constantly being in a state of depression for several years of this period, I felt hopeless and thought I would never get back to fitness, let alone to be able to walk pain free, but still I carried on to get back playing the game I grew up loving,” he said.

“After straining my calf during a training session I realised enough was enough and retired, that very next day I signed up for the Marathon des Sables, still hobbling from my strained calf, I was determined to transform myself from a injured soccer player to an endurance athlete to achieve my new goal of an Elite top 50 place in the toughest race on earth.”

Having trained for the past four months, he feels is on track to be ready for the start of the race. The Marathon des Sables is an endurance test which tests not only the stamina of the entrants but also takes place in blistering heat of 40-50 degrees with the threat of poisonous insects , snakes and scorpions ever present.

“I want to show people that with some hard work, and determination anything is possible, and you really can turn your life around and do something completely different,” says Luke, who also plans to host a talk in Chiswick to tell his story.

February 18, 2012