One person foolhardy enough to undertake this notorious 250km race is Salmon Developments director Paul Stoodley. In April, he will join around 1,000 other competitors who have to carry a week’s worth of food and kit during their six-stage ordeal in temperatures of up to 50ºC.

Stoodley has been training for the event since April and has just got back from a specialist training camp in Lanzarote run by the race’s two-time winner Elisabet Barnes.