AFTER six and half days of continuous running, an Oxfordshire man has completed one of Britain's most brutal races.

Phil Marshall tackled mountains, moors and blizzards to finish the 268-mile Montane Spine Race to raise money to find a cure for the deadly disease his wife suffers from.

Leaving the village hall in Edale in the Peak District and following the path of the Pennine Way, the ultramarathon finishes in Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders.

The Banbury man completed the epic challenge in 155 hours and 25 minutes on January 20.

He battled extreme winds, waist-deep snow, 24 hours of torrential rain, sleep deprivation and gastric problems on a course that crossed some of England's most remote landscapes.

He was forced to run the final 200 miles with severely blistered feet and walked into a snow-covered pond on the last day, causing his gloves and shoes to freeze up.

One of the biggest problems was the sleep deprivation which led to him hallucinating sofas in the middle of the wilderness.

The 34-year-old said: "I knew the race would be tough, but nothing could prepare me for the trials thrown at us.

"Every day was a real challenge to keep going.

"I have never been so exhausted; there were so many times that I just wanting to lie in the snow and go to sleep.

"I daren’t think about how much further I had left to go each day, as it was such a terrifying thought as I was really weak and tired.

Mr Marshall, who works at Barclays Agriculture in Oxford, is hoping to raise £2,800 for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK, a small charity dedicated to finding a cure for a deadly disease his wife Sarah Marshall suffers from.

Mrs Marshall, who was previously a Primary School teacher in Fritwell, was diagnosed with PH four years ago, aged 33.

The life-limiting condition causes high blood pressure in the blood vessels connecting the heart and lungs.

It means she struggles to do normal day-to-day activities like showering and walking up stairs due to extreme breathlessness and fatigue.

Mrs Marshall is waiting for a double lung transplant and could be called to go in to hospital at any moment.

She was unable to support her husband during the race, but watched him via GPS trackers on the internet.

The self-described 'very very proud wife' said: "As soon as I was diagnosed, we decided we had to be proactive and help.

"We had to do something useful, to stop us feeling so helpless, and let us take back some control over the situation. We're not researchers or doctors, so fund-raising is the only way we can help in the search for a cure."

Donate at justgiving.com/fundraising/phil-marshall15.