Ian Spriggs runs 84-mile Hadrian's Wall path in 22 hours for NSPKU

Ian Spriggs, 53, set off from Wallsend on July 18, before taking in Newcastle city centre and Heddon-on-the-Wall, which took him onto the path of Hadrian’s Wall.

He then followed the wall path before making his way through Carlisle to the finish at Bowness-on-Solway.

“Normally in events you have a finish line with lots of people cheering you home, you find the energy for what you think is a sprint finish, cross the line arms aloft, get a medal put around your neck,” joked Ian.

“Not here. The last mile was torture and we arrive at a little car park on the coast. There is a big pole that declares the start/finish of the route, it's concreted into a tractor tyre.

“I just sat on the tyre, relieved it was all over.”

So far Ian has raised £1,053 for The National Society for Phenylketonuria (NSKPU), which supports PKU sufferers, a condition his daughter Molly has. It prevents someone from eating high-protein foods such as cheese, meat, poultry and eggs.

In the UK currently, the only way to manage it is a low-protein diet, which means the sufferer must supplement their diet with artificial protein. NSPKU has long campaigned for a drug called Kuvan to be made available on the NHS.

To date, the NHS has refused to fund the drug for cost reasons, but it is hoped when the European patent for the drug runs out in December that a new company may produce it at a cheaper price.

Despite achieving a feat most wouldn’t dream of, Ian has mixed feelings: “Run wise it was a poor display from me, probably the worst run I have done in a long time. It felt like it used to in my earliest days of long distances.

"Thankfully though, the aim was to get from A to B and the doing it alone overnight was a big challenge for me. Even though it was tough and I ran poorly I managed to achieve what I set out to do.”

He completed the run in just over 22 hours. To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ian-spriggs3.