A KENDAL man has smashed the record for an unsupported run along one of Britain's most famous historical monuments.

Jacob Snochowski, a Polish-born assistant practitioner at Station House Surgery, Kendal, broke the record for running the length of Hadrian’s Wall completely unaided.

The former northern-most boundary of the Roman Empire, built by its eponymous emperor in AD 122, is now an 84-mile long world heritage site.

Mr Snochowski ran its length in 16 hours, 25 minutes, and 33 seconds. The previous record was 19 hours and 24 minutes.

He arranged the run in an effort to support the Cumbria Community Foundation Flood Appeal, set up to help victims of December's Storm Desmond.

Mr Snochowski, 31, of Lingmoor Rise, had originally intended to do the run next year, but after seeing the trauma of people affected by the floods he decided to step up his training and do it early.

"I've always wanted to do something like this and I always wanted to visit the wall," he said.

"I sort of got involved in running and then started researching the record of this route. The idea was train more and harder and then I would try to break the record, but then the flooding happened.

"So I decided why not do it this year and collect some money for people affected by the flooding.

"I wasn't directly affected but lots of the patients from the surgery were and you sort of become part of the tragedy. I saw a lot of people crying and it's difficult to cheer them up – there's so many people with so many difficult stories."

Mr Snochowski only took up running seriously in the last three years, and despite the difficulty of his record-breaking challenge, he insists it was very enjoyable.

"It was very tough because I was carrying eight kilos in my backpack which was painful on my back and hips, and it was very muddy," he said. "But I love running and it was very enjoyable and there was beautiful scenery."

To donate to Mr Snochowski's flood collection, visit https://www.justgiving.com/Run-Jacob-Snochowski-Run.