WILTSHIRE ultra running star Damian Hall brought a fabulous racing year to a fitting climax with an amazing record-breaking achievement in the wilds of northern Scotland.

Venturing into one of the biggest swathes of wildernesses left in Great Britain, Hall and running partner Beth Pascall smashed the Fastest Know Time (FKT) record for completing the 230-mile Cape Wrath Trail, widely regarded as one of the toughest trails in the UK, by a staggering three days.

The pair completed the remote trail from Fort William to Cape Wrath, the north western-most point in mainland Britain, including 12,000 metres of ascent, in four days nine hours and 43 minutes to eclipse the previous record of seven days nine hours 31 minutes set by Poland's Przemek Szapar earlier this year.

Bearing in mind that hikers usually do this trail in about three weeks and that the middle of winter is not the best time to do it with the constant threat of bad weather, that only serves to underline the enormity of this physical and mental achievement.

Hall said: “It was very tough and while the weather was kind to us, the terrain was extremely testing.

“We were clambering over rocks and boulders, up and down ravines, across rivers and wading through bogs because in many places there wasn’t an identifiable path.

“On occasions, I sunk down to my waist in bogs and there was one stretch where it took us an hour to cover one mile, which was pretty demoralising.

“So it was very slow going at times, but the scenery was stunning and we saw some beautiful places.”

Hall alluded to the fact that the weather was kind, but he also revealed that the record attempt was delayed by 24 hours because of heavy rain.

“That led to some of the rivers flooding and we were told that once the level reached our waists then that becomes dangerous because you risk either being swept away or freezing,” added Hall.

“That was clearly a big concern so we delayed the start by a day to allow the water levels to go down before setting off. Luckily, we never had to wade across a river that went above our knees.

“But after that, we were very lucky with the weather and that made a big difference.”

Being so remote, Hall and Pascall carried all their own food, sleeping bags and a stove to sustain them and only dropped into a pub and cafe twice over the four days.

“To be honest, we only slept for about 11 hours in total over the four days. At times, we were grabbing power naps as we just laid down for five minutes, set the watch alarm and then got going again,” explained Hall.

“Fortunately those naps always seemed to revive us.

“We hardly saw anyone for four-and-a-half days and it was quite a wonderful feeling being so remote and also very rewarding to see that the UK still has big tracks of wilderness where you can experience total isolation."

Hall now holds two FKT records, having set the record of 10 days, 15 hours and 18 minutes for the 630-mile South West Coastpath two years ago.