A RUNNER who completed almost six marathons non stop from Birmingham to London is looking forward to his next challenge.

Mark Farthing ran the 145 miles and finished in 15th place despite having just had surgery for a herniated disc and suffering a foot injury.

Those who take on the Grand Union Canal Race run day and night from Gas Street, Birmingham, to Little Venice, in London.

Mark followed the canal for 36 and-a-half hours, starting the race at 6am on May 25 and finishing the next day at 6.32pm.

The 50-year-old said: “I’ve always been one to take on challenges. I’m quite mentally tough, I run more than 150 miles a month and take on 30 mile runs without food or water. I do it for the challenge, that’s what motivates me.

“In 2016, I completed the Centurion Grand Slam, taking on four 100 mile ultras in six months.

“This for me was the next challenge up. It’s such an iconic race, being the longest running one in the UK.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t take part in 2017 because my foot was injured and my hip muscles virtually collapsed - I couldn’t run for three months.

“I came back as soon as I was clear to run again, but sadly I didn’t make it through the ballot in 2018. Back surgery also set me back which overall took me eight months to recover from.

“This year was finally my year.”

Out of the 97 people who took on the race, 52 completed it. Mark not only placed 15th, but was given the name of The Orange Warrior for his orange running gear.

He continued: “It was really tough, but I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved.

“At mile 25 I got a quad strain and had to apply a compression bandage, and my previous knee injury from where I had surgery started to play up at mile 100; but I pushed on through.

“It was actually less painful to run than it was to walk because of the amount of blisters on my feet. “The pain was worth it.”

Mark’s partner Jennifer, joined him for the last 30 miles of the race.

Jennifer Spittle, 46, from Hockley, met Mark after he joined the Southend Flyers in 2014. She said: “I’m extremely proud, when we saw the finish I was reduced to tears.

“When your partner is running 145 miles in pain with no sleep, you do worry. Especially when only half finish and these are amazing endurance runners.

“I didn’t know where he was or where we’d meet and the race was absolutely brutal, but I knew he’d do it, I was just there for a positive push.

“I’ve run 15 marathons in the last two years and for me it was hard. This was a whole other level of epic- the check points were every 15 to 20 miles, so if you ran out of water that’s it.”