If running the London Marathon year after year becomes a drag, budding Navy fighter controller Stuart Bosley has the solution – run an awful lot further through the searing sands of the Sahara.

The 26-year-old lieutenant and his colleague Lt Dominic Kilbane intend to run the distance of nearly six marathons through Morocco to raise upwards of £10,000 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

Runners in the notorious Marathon des Sables are expected to cover 243 kilometres – 151 miles – in six days of running in legs of between 22km and 82km in temperatures expected to reach 120°F around midday.

More than 600 people took part in last year’s marathon – around a third of them Britons.

The racers must carry all they need – food, fuel, medical supplies and sleeping bag – in a rucksack on their backs.

“I’ve done the London marathon five times and wanted to do something that was more of a challenge,” said Stuart, who is on an air traffic control training course at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.

“I know it will be really hard, but hopefully it will go well. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Organisers describe the April race as one of the toughest sporting events in the world, suitable for “lunatics and masochists”.

Race promoter Chris Lawrence said that Stuart and Dominic, a warfare officer at HMS Collingwood in Fareham, needed more than physical fitness to come through the ordeal.

“Mental stamina constitutes 50 per cent of whether you will complete the distance or not,” he explained.

You can support the two lieutenants on their run financially via the internet at stuartbosley.saharamarathon.co.uk or dominickilbane.saharamarathon.co.uk or by calling 01753 849536.