Ultra-marathon runner sets record in 53C desert race

An ultra-marathon runner has gone from winning a race in temperatures of -35C in the Arctic to setting a new course record in the searing 53C heat of an African desert.

Alex Welch, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, set the new best time in the 230km (142.9 miles) Beyond the Ultimate Desert Ultra Marathon across Namibia.

His victory in Africa comes after he became the youngest ever winner of the Beyond the Ultimate Ice Ultra Marathon, where he raced over Arctic tundra in Sweden in February.

Alex said it had been “a tough five days” and he wanted to challenge himself in an environment which was so different from where he usually trained in Manchester, “where it rains all the time”.

Alex told BBC North West Tonight he was “over the moon” to have taken the course record from the previous holder, US runner Adam Kimble in 2018.

He said completing the race had been “a massively emotional moment” and he had broken down in tears, having run alongside “a fantastic set of athletes out there from different parts of the world”.

“I just think it was an opportunity to grow and to challenge myself in an environment that I’m not comfortable in,” he added.

He said he had enjoyed getting a chance to see some of the wildlife there, including elephants.

Reflecting on the experience, Alex said: “There’s lions, snakes and spiders out here. If you get bitten then we’re a long way from civilisation that can sort you out.”

He said the hardest part of his latest challenge had been going straight out into the heat to run 50km (31.1 miles), whereas in previous desert challenges there had been a gradual increase in distance.

He praised the “camaraderie” among the runners, “irrespective of whether you finish first or last”.

Alex said he had decided to take part in the desert challenge as he had enjoyed doing the ultra marathon in Swedish Lapland in February.

He said he planned to compete in the Jungle Ultra marathon in Peru next year and the Mountain Ultra in Kazakhstan in 2027.