The Sandrunners

 THE SANDRUNNERS

Odd title , how many people run in sand? Some athletes maybe, it is supposed to strengthen the legs and improve the Cardio Vascular system. In our story it is the way our hero Yusuf actually gets to work.

Along with his best pal, a young runt camel called Suzy, he runs from his tiny Egyptian village to an excavation site at one of the many  ancient temples in Egypt.

Why run? Not a lot of choice  because the year is 1896, not much in the way of community bus services in those days, no busses

To get to work there were two choices.  Walk or Run.

Which brings me to the nub of the story.

Yusuf is a sand boy at the site, along with his camel he hauls the  rubble away from the excavation, it is not a well paid job but it brings in a few pennies which help him and his widowed mother survive.

In the course of his daily running workout.Yusuf has developed into a major athlete , in a country where the concept of athletes is totally unknown.

The rest of the story you will have to read for yourselves but the idea of a young man from humble origins being able to change his world and that of the people around him by just simply running is one that appealed to my co- writer and co- creator Mary Lou Clarke and myself. 

In the modern era, ours it is possible for athletes from impoverished backgrounds to make vast amounts of money in the sporting arena but back in the Egypt of 1896 the possibility of that occurring was zilch.

Mary Lou and I are also fascinated by personal motivation and  in  this story, which, like all the others we will be publishing shortly, we try to depict the journey of discovery,  to get from the starting point in life to the final goal.

The journey of life really, which has many twists and turns, crossroads, highways and lonely track, which one to choose and why, where will the chosen  route lead.

The Sandrunners is the story of Yusufs journey.  

R.J Dodd