LESS than two months after running 313 miles through a seething hot African desert, Scottish ultra marathon runner, Donnie Campbell, has gone one step further.

 

The 30-year-old finished in first place in the gruelling 130 km long Iznik Ultra Marathon in north western Turkey at the weekend.

The achievement comes less than two months after he ran 550 km in through the Namib desert in Namibia in temperatures of over 35°c.

The ex-Royal Marine Commando finished the Iznik Ultra Marathon one hour and seven minutes ahead the local favourite named Mahmut Yavuz.

Donnie, who now acts as a personal trainer with his own company 'Get Active Running', dominated the race and finished in 13 hours 23 minutes.

Donnie said: "It was a long race to start off the season, I usually start off with an 80km but I've always wanted to run the Iznik Ultra, it's a lovely course with friendly locals, great athletics and fantastic organisation.

"I'm really happy with the win. I felt confident going into it but it's a long race and anything can happen over the course of 13 hours.

"I was planning to stay with the lead pack for the first half of the race and then make a break but after 2 or 3 km I started pulling away.

"I wasn't even pushing it, it was just a comfortable pace for me. I was on my own for most of the time so it ended up being quite a lonely race and I was glad I had my music with me.

While many runners struggle with mountains, growing up in Skye has made Donnie comfortable on the slopes.

He continued: "The course was relatively flat, I'm used to more mountainous races so my legs felt a bit sore around 100km but once I hit some hills my legs felt fresh.

The race win is one of many achievements for Donnie which include running 184 miles from Glasgow to Skye non-stop and running up 10 of the UK's highest peaks in less than 24 hours.

Donnie is already set to run his next race on Saturday where he will compete in the 53 mile Highland Fling race from Milngavie to Tyndrum.