A Perthshire man has arrived home from Nepal after taking on the world’s toughest marathon.
While a 26-mile run in Berlin took Nigel Hetherington a respectable 3 hours 57 minutes, the hardy mountain runner took 8 hours 32 minutes to complete a similar course on the slopes of Everest.
The 58-year-old battled against thinning air and a severe cold, leaving him feeling like he was “running on half a lung”, to complete the race.
He had earlier spent two weeks acclimatising to the altitude before setting off from the south base camp in Nepal on November 30.
Although nominally a descent from more than 17,000ft, the 49 participants faced uphill sections equivalent to climbing Scotland’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis.
Nigel said: “It was everything I could have expected and more.
“The real challenge was getting to the start line because you didn’t know how you’d respond to the altitude, you didn’t know if you would have any health issues.
“However fit I was going out, I didn’t know how that was going to pan out over the 2 weeks.
“At less than 50% air pressure everything is hard work you have to lower your expectations. When you try to run and it feels like you are travelling at what would be a 5k race pace at sea level but you’re only actually travelling at a fast walking pace because that’s all your body will let you do.”
Nigel, who lives in Abernethy, battled back to fitness to take part in the marathon after being diagnosed with Graves’ disease but said his cold was the only issue for him during the race.
He said: “One participant was evacuated by helicopter a week or so before as he had fluid on the lungs it was a potentially lethal situation to be in. Thankfully he recovered quickly and was able to be a marshal in the race.
“I suffered a serious sinus infection and head cold. Although at sea level a cold is a bit of a nuisance at high altitude everything is multiplied. I was already doing the equivalent of getting around on one lung but now I was on half a lung because I couldn’t breathe.”
The self-employed sports and education consultant raised £2,400 for the Nepal earthquake recovery efforts.
He said: “A lot of people have been frightened off visiting Nepal because of the earthquake, but the people out there are saying ‘please come’ because they need our investment.
“Their livelihoods are based on people coming and trekking, and this year there has only been about 30% of the normal footfall. Their call is ‘Nepal is open for business’.
“It’s a magnificent place to visit. I will be back I don’t know when or for what purpose but I can see myself going back.”