MARATHON man Mike Buss is hoping to claim his own world running record – the greatest distance covered back-to-back in Arctic and desert marathons.

The Highworth-based ultra runner is back home in Wiltshire having competed two of the toughest running races on the planet – the first was in the Canadian Arctic where Mike covered a staggering 91 miles while pulling a sled behind him in temperatures which dipped to minus 45C.

The complete race was 120 miles but due to a faulty bracket on his sled Mike soon picked up a serious injury to his right hip which not only threatened to take him out of the race but which would stop him from being fit to compete in the Sahara days later for the Marathon des Sables.

Mike said: “I had a lot of money and people counting on me back home, a target of £250,000 for Help for Heroes this year. So when I felt my hip go I knew I was in trouble.”

Days later, Mike was in north Africa for the Marathon des Sables which is staged over six days and 156 miles across the south Moroccan desert in temperatures which topped 60C.

Mike and the rest of the runners had to cope with mountain ranges, desert dunes and sand storms.

He said: “I had to be careful for the first couple of days not to injure my hip further and take me out of the race.

“I always knew that the longest day would be my day, 82km in one hit. I’m used to the long mileage and so during those 82km I started pulling past people to climb over 200 places in just one day.”

Mike is helping to promote a campaign to change the name of the A420 from Swindon to Oxford the Heroes Highway, in recognition of the repatriation route from RAF Lyneham to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. He is planning to run the route and head to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition.

If people would like to add their name to the petition, email Mike at activelifeuk@hotmail.com.