A Scots care worker has smashed the record for running the North Coast 500 in just under six days.
Luke Ivory set out in July from Inverness Castle on his 38th birthday to take on the massive challenge around the popular tourism route.
The ultra-marathon runner hoped to break the previous record of eight days, 19 hours and seven minutes, which was set by pensioner William Sichel in 2019.
Luke slashed over two days off Sichel's record, making it over the finish line in the early hours with a time of five days, 23 hours and four minutes.
Speaking to the Daily Record, humble Luke revealed he is already planning for his next race in September.
He said: "It can take months to fully recover from a distance like that but I have another race in September. I'm hoping to get a few decent training sessions before then but I might just have to wing it.
"I've just been concentrating on training but I'm looking more at competing at an elite level now against some of the other better runners and making a name for myself."
The 38-year-old revealed he was clocking around three marathons and burning up to ten thousand calories a day to secure his record.
Sleeping in a support vehicle with his friend at night, the talented runner was averaging around just two hours sleep on a blow-up mattress.
Giving an insight into the experience, he said: "There was around nine months training in the run-up. It was 87 miles a day was the average, so it's around three marathons a day.
"There were spells every day where you'd be flying for a while and then you'd be struggling for a couple of hours. There were peaks and troughs every day.
"There's a saying in ultra-marathons that in a 100-mile race you run the first fifty miles with your legs and the next 50 miles with your head, so you get to the point when your legs are pretty much done and you've got to force them to keep on going", he added.
Luke, who comes from Brora, admits he only got into long-distance running in his thirties after spending years playing football instead.
He said: "I was always into football growing up but even then my best strength was probably my running. But I kind of got bogged down with injuries and put on weight in my late teens and early twenties.
"It was only really once I got into my thirties that I got into regular running. You start losing your speed in your late twenties but your endurance can keep improving into your forties and can reach your marathon peak around then.
"So, you get better at plodding along in your old age."
The NC500, which spans 516 miles in total of stunning Scottish coast, is considered one of the best road trips but few runners have taken it on.
"There's not been a massive amount of people trying to run this NC500, it's been more cyclists, but there is someone setting off again in August, so I think it may well become more popular as it gets more publicity", Luke said.
Luke, who is a live-in carer, worked through the pandemic and was spurred on to do more multi-day runs after watching people take on challenges in lockdown.
"Record-chasing became more popular over lockdown. I wanted to try something like this last year but I got injured and super busy at work, so didn't really get the chance.
"My brother ran 51 marathons in 50 days after he got put on furlough, so I was a bit frustrated I didn't get a piece of the action", Luke said.
Luke now hopes he has a chance of setting another record when he runs Land's End to John o' Groats next year - you can follow the runner on Twitter here.
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