AN AMBLESIDE runner overcame injury to become one of just ten to finish a gruelling six-day 235 mile event.

Jo Kilkenny, 38, was the first woman to finish the Deadwater - an event that starts near the Scottish border and finishes near Wales.

A bio-medical scientist at Lancaster Royal Infirmary (RLI), Jo placed fifth overall in the gruelling event.

She was running for 74 hours over the six days, including one section which took 24 hours - and gave her just an hour's sleep before setting off on the next stage.

"The challenge of it is part of why I do it," she said. "But it's also meeting new people. I have to push myself and see what I'm physically and mentally capable of and getting out there, too. You're camping, it's a week away. Most of the time you're not connected with the outside world and you're in a little cocoon."

Competitors carry all their kit, food and sleeping bags, with just tents provided by the organisers at campsites along the way.

Jo pulled out of last year's race on the second day with a knee injury which she has been battling ever since.

She completed the Highland Fling race in Scotland but only by walking the last 30 of the 53 miles, and pulled out of the 100-mile Wicklow Way event in Ireland in June after 40 miles.

She said: "All my training has been focused on Deadwater since last year. This was the one I really wanted to finish."

The race starts at a former railway station at Deadwater in the Kielder Forest and takes in the north and south Pennines, and a section of canal towpath through the centre of Manchester, before finishing at Chester castle.

Along the way, she kept her spirits up by running with different people, snacking on Irish crisps and listening to podcasts.

"I think at times the mental challenge can be harder because if you put the training in you know you can do it," she said. "But you have to break it down, checkpoint by checkpoint."

And the Ambleside AC runner used the event to fundraise for the North West Blood Bikers.

She chose the charity because Kendal biker Russell Curwen had been travelling to the RLI when he was involved in a crash that took his life.

These guys and girls give up their free time to transport urgent blood to us," she wrote on her Just Giving page.

She paid tribute to the team at the Body Rehab injury clinic in Staveley, and her coach, Ambleside's Paul Tierney, who provided a training schedule.

You can donate to Jo's cause at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jo-kilkenny2