DESPITE suffering a serious thigh injury and recovering from a hernia operation, Woolacombe ultra-distance runner Kevin Carr is still in training for his solo attempt to run across the Sahara inside 40 days.

Kevin, 28, is back on track for his record-breaking attempt of running across the Sahara Desert, which will see him run a staggering 40 marathons in 40 days.

The athlete developed a hernia in the autumn, and had to have an operation in October.

But there were complications, and that, along with a serious thigh injury halted Kevin's training.

Before Kevin takes on the Sahara, he's now set himself a gruelling British challenge as a warm-up — running 46 marathons in 21 days, from Land's End to John O' Groats.

Kevin said: "The Land's End to John O' Groats run will be incredible, it's going to push me right up to, and perhaps even past my limits. In many ways it's tougher than the Sahara challenge.

"Obviously it's a longer distance but also there are mountains and changeable weather to deal with.

"The intensity is more than twice that of the Sahara — I'm running 46 marathons in 21 days, I can't wait to get underway."

The British challenge run begins on May 26 at Land's End, arriving at John O' Groats on June 15 — this will be the first time any runner has attempted to run the length of the UK, off road.

Kevin will be running a total of 1,200 miles using walking paths across England and Scotland.

Kevin's training is now overseen by world champion ultra runner William Sichel — one of the strongest runners in the UK and the world.

Kevin said: "The Land's End to John O' Groats run is a huge step for me, the fact no one has ever attempted it before is perhaps indicative of just how difficult it is, I knew I couldn't leave anything to chance with my training.

"I needed advice, so I went to the best, luckily William and his coach agreed to take me on and work at helping me get the most out of my training."

Sichel, who holds world records over a range of ultra marathon distances places a large emphasis on strength training for the distance runner, something most runners overlook.

Kevin, who had previously neglected the strength and conditioning side of his training, then sought help from the Fitness Factory, in Barnstaple.

Kevin said: "I knew of the gym as the North Devon injury Clinic is based there, it was John Reeves's treatment that repaired a thigh injury I was carrying after heavy training last year. Without that treatment I doubt I would have successfully run the 300-mile loop around Devon.

"I decided to try the Fitness Factory as it's the only gym I know that has a sports injury specialist on-site, and as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure.

"All of the instructors are very hands-on, showing a real interest in how my training is progressing, but most importantly that my lifting is being performed safely — it gives me the confidence to go all out and push harder, because of this my results have been very consistent and very fast, in the past six weeks alone I've doubled my strength."

John Reeves from the Fitness Factory and North Devon Sports Injury Clinic said: "As part of Kevin's training regime it is vitally important that he maintains a strong and efficient musculo-skeletal system.

"This would be the case with all athletes, whether they are runners or rugby players.

"We've been delighted to support Kevin by providing a training facility, programme and constant support in order to help him achieve his goal.

"For Kevin to achieve his objectives in a safe and progressive manner, we initially introduced him to our air machines — these are good because they allow you to increase the weight without placing undue strain on the body, and the movements are much more controlled and smooth than when using regular weight machines.

John added: "He then added Olympic weights for functional, dynamic strength training. Kevin has found this to be of great benefit to his programme overall.

"Other athletes who have received the support of the clinic, are Vicky Skelton, (Great Britain ultra distance runner) Ryan Crook, GB power lifter, plus many other North Devon athletes."