2:37pm Saturday 12th May 2007
By Laura Smith
GARY Jackets is someone who likes to go the extra mile - or 200, to be exact.
Not content with his 60-marathon record, the Temple Sutton police community support officer now intends to take on the longest and toughest foot race in Europe.
The trek should take three days to complete and Mr Jackets plans to stock up with plenty of jelly babies, flapjacks and freeze-dried meals to get through it.
He admitted: "It's absolutely mental. It's just ridiculous.
"There's no one on the course, you hardly see anyone in this race and there are only three checkpoints, at 50, 70 and 120 miles."
The semi-extreme 200-mile course is the length of nearly eight marathons and runs from Dudley, in the West Midlands, to the London Docklands.
Mr Jackets, 42, also took part in the London Marathon - just as "training" to help him work towards the big day, this Thursday.
The officer said he ran because of pure ambition, which had already helped him complete the gruelling Marathon Des Sables.
This race takes competitors 145 miles through the Saraha Desert, in Africa.
Mr Jackets said: "My wife thinks I'm totally barmy. The first time she came and watched me do a serious race in South Africa, she didn't see me throughout the whole race until I was rushed to hospital at the finishing line.
"They ran past with me on the stretcher and she just said, there he goes'." Mr Jackets, who lives in Rayleigh, needs this next race as a crucial step necessary to get him invited to the Bad Water Marathon.
He explained: "It's 140 miles across the Grand Canyon. They are really strict about who they let in.
"You have to have done some really stupid things to enter. I need a race like this to get entry as there are only 100 people taking part from all around the world.
"It's really tough because it's 125 degrees fahrenheit, and they give you about 36 hours to run the 140 miles."
However, the toughest challenge he faces is not the training, but the exam he will take next month to become a fully-fledged police officer.
He said: "Although I'm only doing an eight-hour day, I find it far more taxing and tiring than going on a 20-mile run.
"I really find it harder sitting at the desk to learn about being in the police force than running a marathon."
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