Tell us a little bit about the event/cause you’re participating in?

Let me introduce myself, I’m an Ultra Endurance Athlete, a father of one, a wellness&plant-based nutrition advocate, and inspiration to people as an example of courageous and healthy living. Training and competing is an integral part of my lifestyle and is a passion. I have participated in several Ultra Endurance event, such as Ultra Running and Trails (50kms, 100kms) and IronMan Triathlons with Swim, Bike and Running disciplines.

In 2018, I'm planning for an amazing journey, to help those less fortunate gain access to something we take for granted every day - clean water..

With the Community support I'm planning to help 1000 people to get access to clean water, for that I will be running 1000km and doing the 4 Deserts Grand Slam challenge, crossing the 4 most inhospitable deserts on earth; the hottest, windiest, driest and coldest. I aim to demonstrate how somebody ordinary can make an extraordinary positive impact on the wider community.

Representing Qatar and my other country France, I would like the community to understand and support this Endurance Sport/Health/Charity Project, values such as generosity, to overcome yourself, going beyond motivation, mindset, education, primary health, nutrition and most in general ‘life experience’ are present into this Project, I’m now here to share my story and trying to get people to go through this journey with me.

The 4 Deserts Race Series is widely recognized as the most prestigious outdoor footrace series in the world.
Competitors in each race traverse 250 kilometers in 6 days over rough country terrain, Competitors are challenged to go beyond the limits of their physical and mental endurance, they must carry all their own equipment and food and are only provided with drinking water and a place in a tent each night to rest. The series is named by TIME magazine as one of the world's Top 10 Endurance Competitions.
This adventure has only been successfully completed by a small number of people, currently around 66 in a calendar year around the world.

Here are some more details about my 2018 - 4 Deserts Grand Slam challenge:

- First race challenge 250km on 29-April 2018 in Namibia to face the hottest desert on earth
- Second race challenge 250km on 29-July 2018 in Mongolia to face the windiest desert on earth
- Third race challenge 250km on 30-September 2018 in Chile to face the driest desert on earth
- Last race challenge (also called the lost desert) 250km on Nov.2018 in Antarctica to face the coldest desert on earth

What do you hope to achieve from it?

I’m using a raising fund platform to get people to donate as much as possible and looking to raise USD$30.000 to help 1000 people to get access to Clean Water, I simply define 1000 people based on the 1000km distance that will be hopefully covering from the 4 races, 1 km for each single person.
Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We have plenty of water to drink, even the water in our toilets is clean!
But many people around the world don’t have that luxury. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.
100% of the money that I will collect will be used to build a clean water project, and when it will be completed, I will be there and send everyone many proofs such as photos, GPS coordinates and testimonies so you will be able to see the exact community we helped all TOGETHER.

How long have you been training for it? What were the challenges you faced/face while preparing for the race?

Clearly a challenge of this magnitude implies significant preparation, training, logistics and planning. I’m continuously training, I’m training for these races 8-10 months prior the first races that will take place in April 2018, then all the 4 races will be within a 7 months window from April until November 2018, so continuous training will be involved and adaptation to all these different terrains too, running in the hottest desert and running in the driest or coldest deserts involved different angle of trainings, gears or preparation are different too, hydration requirements or foods will be different too.
Challenges will be of course physical and physiological, body will be expose to huge conditions of stress (heat and super cold conditions), I expect of course blisters and pain , probably the most biggest challenge for me will be how my mindset will drive me to my goals, how mindset will be healthy, how this little voice that we all have in our mind will trigger and appear during these difficult moments that will be coming up during trainings and races, as triathlete and having performed several IronMan and Ultra Running Endurance races, the importance of mindset is way above everything else, when we think that we are done this is where we identify what are our real limitations, the idea will be to face these ‘mind limitations or insecurities’ during trainings and also during races, most important is to make sure that you faced these hard moments and learn about these, the driving force will be about getting water for this community in need which do not have access to clean water.

How will your participation impact the community?

As mention previously, the challenge is human and the goal is not to run 4 deserts, the goal is to provide Access to Clean water to 1000 persons, the impact will just not be drinking clean water, it will be much more deeper, this will allow concerned community to be able to start seeing better days, thinking about going to schools for children, adults being able to work, community to start sharing collective or economic actions together..as we sometimes says, water is kind of life, if this life is first not healthy then all the rest cannot be built, water have a huge impact and clean water will allow community to growth for several generations and this in an expansional way, the impact is the next day ! think about the impact if you drink none clean water, the same day or next day you will get probably sick, can you live with that, I believe that the answer will be a ‘BIG NO’ for everyone. A true fact is that diseases from dirty water kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

Why did you select a charity for clean water?

Honestly the link came this way..I thought about what is the thing that can make huge impact daily in a positive or negative way..water came up to my mind..also training that much like 15 to 20hrs per week..hydration is just part of my routine..so the idea was to create my routine with water to be a group or community routine as well..I was training one day in the desert and was running short on water, I realized how important water is and how powerful this element can be..Clean Water Access idea came up that way..having clean water for drinking then you can start to focus on main priorities such as Health, Child education, build a future, in a simple way TO LIVE !
Secondly the element missing in a Desert is water, so idea of running in Deserts came and get linked to that naturally I would say.

How can people follow your journey?

Anyone can follow me and donate via my Charity Campaign Platform: https://my.charitywater.org/hichame-moubarak/4-deserts-grand-slam-run-for-clean-water

I’m looking to raise USD$30.000 in total for 1000 people, to get there I need your help, so I’m asking each one of you, friends and friends of friends community to generously donate something, I will make sure that you will receive all updates of this journey and make sure that you will know the exact community we helped.

Connect with me on Facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/hichame.moubarak

I’m also going to next level and soon other supports such as more photos, videos will be made available to describe the journey I’m going through, the way I specifically train, what I do for training, I way I eat with healthy nutrition using mainly superfoods, the way I think too, what I do for recovery, how I managed those times when nothing goes well (plenty of these)..I really hope that community and individuals will find a link with my action and something will spark into each from that.

Together we are powerful, Together we can change the world, let’s focus that energy into such Project, your generosity isn’t just appreciated, it’s needed, now more than ever, donate whatever you can.

Big thank you !

Hichame Moubarak
Mobile: +974 66098411
Email: hmoubarak@he3rg.com
hichame.moubarak@wanadoo.fr