'I'm running from Banbury to the top of Snowdon and back in a week for my holiday!'

Nathan Canning will cover approximately 350 miles and climb over 30,000 feet of elevation on the epic week-long solo run.

Setting off on Monday (April 7), Nathan covered between 40 and 50 miles per day to reach the summit of Wales's highest peak yesterday (Thursday, April 10).

Speaking about his reasons for taking on the mammoth challenge, Nathan said: “To be honest I don’t really know; I’m just a very impulsive person and love a challenge!

“I love running and I do it every day. I usually run 100 miles in a week, and I just wanted a challenge that would test me.

“As crazy as it sounds, it is also a holiday for me. I’m getting to see new places that I’ve never seen before and have been able to take in some of the beautiful views and waterfalls around Snowdonia.”

Nathan is now running alongside the A5 just past Betws-y-Coed on his way home and hopes to arrive in Banbury by midday on Sunday.

When asked about some of the challenges he has faced along the run, Nathan said: “Not having a toilet nearby has been quite a problem. I have been eating so much to fuel the run, but obviously there are not too many toilets around.

“Yesterday, I had a big problem, as when I came down from Snowdon, the shops were closed, so I ran out of water.

“This led me to run a couple of hours with no water, and it was really hot, which resulted in me hallucinating from dehydration and coughing up some blood, but other than that, it has been ok.”

Summarising the past five days of hard running, Nathan said: “It has not been plain sailing all the way. The second day in, I was in the trenches and kept thinking that I wasn’t going to be able to finish it, but I said to myself to tick off one mile at a time and managed to push through.

“I think the body is capable of doing almost anything if you have the right mindset!”

Nathan comes from an accomplished long-distance road running background and has achieved impressive times at 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon races.

One of his biggest race achievements was finishing 28th out of around 12,000 runners at the Brighton Marathon in 2023.

However, after getting tired of chasing fast times, Nathan made a switch to ultramarathons a few years ago.

Since making the transition, Nathan has completed a solo 100-plus-mile run from Banbury to Cardiff and several other challenging ultra-distance efforts.

Nathan said: “I was concentrating on getting faster and faster for a while, but it became like a job, and I was starting to lose interest, so I decided to run further distances instead, and now it has taken over my life.”

After completing the solo trip to Snowdon and back, Nathan’s next goal is to complete the Race to the Stones ultramarathon in less than nine hours.