Mr Gill decided to take on an Ultra Marathon because it was "a little bit stupid".

BBC: Simon Gill

We switched on the TV to watch the midnight countdown, but instead, a documentary about Canadian ultra-marathon runner Ray Zahab caught our attention.

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"Winning an initial victory here is just incredible, " said the American runner, who first took part in the ultra-marathon four years ago.

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This battle is so urgent that Dr. Charles Van Der Horst, a pioneering AIDS researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was arrested at the General Assembly, despite having completed a 199-mile ultra-marathon the previous day.

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They were also required to carry all their equipment for the duration of the ultra-marathon -- from food and sleeping gear to an anti-venom pump and glow sticks -- as they battled with weariness and dehydration whilst snaking their way past rolling dunes, steep-sided uplands, dried-up lakes and abandoned settlements in the hostile heat.

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Ultra marathons see people run or walk longer than the traditional marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.19km).

BBC: Andrew Murray