Dover restaurant owner Jim Gleeson has completed the gruelling Marathon des Sables, one of the toughest races on earth.

The event, which is split into six stages, takes place across the Sahara Desert.

This is the third time that Mr Gleeson, who is 55, has completed the race and says this is his final time. However, when he returned home from his first one, in 2002, he said “never again”. But he took part in the 2004 event as well.

It involves running 245 kilometres over the course of a week. More than 700 people started the first stage, but around 50 dropped out.

Mr Gleeson, who owns Cullins Yard in Dover, completed the first stage in three hours 52 minutes, the second stage in 4:33 and the third in 4:07. He was then in 591th position.

He took 12 hours 10 minutes to complete the fourth stage, which is the longest of them all, and he then went on to complete the fifth stage in four hours eight minutes, and the final sixth stage in one hour 26 minutes.

Overall he had run for a total of 29 hours 58 minutes, and he finished in 535th place.

Each competitor not monly had to run the distance each day within a certain time-limit, but they also had to carry everything they would need during the race, including food, clothing and medical supplies.