Climbing instructor Neil Wightwick, of the Paisley Road West climbing Centre followed his team row across the Atlantic last year with a marathon-a-day over the Kalahari Desert last month.

Coming in a respectable 12th he told a BBC Radio Scotland Sports programme, ‘I’ve no intention of repeating this adventure!’ Contestants had to carry everything they needed for the Kalahari Extreme Marathon which covered 260km in six days across blistering hot desert sand.

Of the 32 who started, 14 dropped out along the punishing way. Said Neil, ‘After the first day I felt sick with the heat - 38 degrees – and had difficulty walking. I thought then there was no way I could keep going. But I recovered well and took day two easier. But the heat climbed to 55 degrees and by the end of day six I was saying to myself I’d never do this again –  so it must have been bad for that to stick in my mind.’

He’s already planning next year’s challenge – usually for a charity such as the Anthony Nolan Trust  -  and it will be a leisurely sail somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere oceans.