Three men run west-east across Sahara in 111 days

CAIRO, Feb 21 (Reuters) Three men from Canada, Taiwan and the United States have run 7,500 km across the Sahara Desert to draw attention to the lack of access to water in many countries they crossed, one runner said today.

American Charlie Engle said the trio had crossed Africa from St Louis in Senegal to the Red Sea coast in 111 days, running 98 per cent of the way and walking when forced to by illness or the terrain.

Engle said he, Ray Zahab from Canada and Kevin Lin from Taiwan ran into the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Ain Sukhna yesterday, before taking a ride to a luxury hotel in Cairo.

They left the Atlantic Coast on November 2 last year and travelled through Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and Egypt, Engle told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Two off-road vehicles loaded with fuel and water accompanied them but Engle said they did not cheat. ''Never once did we get into a vehicle or ride an animal,'' he said.

Most of the trip was off road and sometimes the team travelled for days without seeing anyone.

The runners, whose aim was to draw attention to the lack of access to clean drinking water in many countries along the way, had backing from ONE, a US-based campaign to combat world poverty and HIV/AIDS, but were not raising money.

For one 14-day stretch in Mali they could find no water, so one support vehicle had to go off for a day to find some.

All the runners suffered from the gruelling schedule. ''The three of us suffered from a myriad of physical issues and also intestinal issues. Anyone who's gone camping knows it's hard to keep everything sanitary and our bodies were under tremendous strain,'' Engle said.

''We all lost significant weight. I ate as much as humanly possible but running 45 miles a day the weight loss was really dramatic,'' he added. He said he had not weighed himself yet.

Engle, 44, is a TV producer and amateur marathon runner from Greensboro, North Carolina. Zahab, 38, is a professional trainer and Lin, 30, is doing a master's in exercise physiology.

''We met as competitors in various races around the world and then set off on the world's longest camping trip,'' said Engle.

Engle said the Tenere Desert stretch in Niger was the most memorable. ''It was just fantastic, massive sand dunes and true peace and quiet. I think that was my favourite,'' he said.

REUTERS PDM KP1604