I've met this chap once, and he is a hero of mine. An example to us all methinks.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes has succeeded in his record breaking challenge to run seven marathons in as many days.
The 59-year-old British adventurer, dubbed "the world's greatest explorer" by the Guinness Book of Records, completed the New York marathon yesterday in five hours and 25 minutes.
Sir Ranulph and fellow adventurer Michael Stroud broke the world record by running 26 miles every day for a week.
The other races were in the Falkland Islands, Chile, Australia, Singapore, London and Egypt.
Sir Ranulph, who suffered a heart attack four-and-a-half months ago, finished the challenge at 3.30pm local time.
"It's the best thing possible," he said at the finishing line. "It was good fun. We thought it would be and it was."
On Saturday, in Cairo, he raced through the night after just four hours' sleep following the completion of his London marathon on Friday. Then he and Dr Stroud headed for a 6am flight to New York.
Reflecting on the gruelling nature of the challenge, he added: "It's finished and that's a good thing. I feel very relieved that we have actually completed it as there were considerable doubts that we wouldn't.
"The fourth run [in Singapore] was the hardest. We were getting weaker and weaker by every marathon and we didn't think we could finish at that point."
The Singapore leg was run in intense heat and humidity. Sir Ranulph described the run as "hell on earth", while Dr Stroud suffered from a stomach upset and walked much of the way during that marathon.
The explorer had fought back from a heart attack and double heart bypass operation.
He had promised to take on the challenge before he collapsed on an aircraft in June and had to undergo surgery.
Sir Ranulph said: "Getting to a new city and a new country and meeting the people who were benefiting from the cash was moving. You do start thinking it would be dreadful to let those people down. I'm glad that we didn't stop halfway as that is the way that it looked."
The explorer has become famous for his daring exploits in some of the most remote parts of the globe.
In 1979 he and Charles Burton set off to circumnavigate the globe via both poles. Three years and 35,000 miles later, they succeeded.
His attachment to the Gulf state of Oman was rewarded in 1992 when he led the discovery of the lost city of Ubar.
A year later, he and Dr Stroud battled starvation and freezing temperatures as they pulled 500lb (226kg) sledges unassisted across the Antarctic.
In 1993, he was awarded an OBE for human endeavour and charitable services.
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