Teams Complete Tough le Treg Ultra-Marathon in Ennedi, Chad to Support Conservation

The African Parks Management team and the Zakouma National Park team have completed the punishing 90 km Le Treg ultra-marathon run in the blistering heat of Ennedi in the Sahara Desert in Chad.

First across the finish line was Adoum Issakha from Team Zakouma in a record time of 18 hours 30 minutes. Participants were permitted 30 hours to complete the non-stop course.

Temperatures reached 40˚C during the day, dropping to 7˚C at night, making it a unique test of physical and mental endurance for all members of the two teams. Their aim was to demonstrate African Parks’ commitment to the Chadian Government to establish Ennedi as a protected area and to restore its biodiversity- a Memorandum of Understanding was signed last week - and to honour the memory of the six Zakouma rangers killed in an ambush by Sudanese poachers in 2012.

Famous for its towering rock arches, rock art spanning thousands of years, and undulating yellow sands, Ennedi is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage site.