A PERSONAL trainer from Balloch embarked on a 10,000-mile voyage to Antarctica to complete her toughest marathon yet.

Debbie Savage spent 16 hours on a plane and two days on-board a vessel to participate in a world marathon challenge at the ends of the earth.

Inspired by a newspaper article from over 25 years ago about a woman who completed seven marathons across the seven continents of the world – also known as World’s Marathon Majors – the business owner was fuelled to complete the same mission.

With more than 50 marathons under her belt, Debbie is no novice when it comes to competing in races, however she knew that the conditions meant it would be especially challenging.

Debbie said: “Antarctica was awesome, it was so amazing getting to travel somewhere so far away to do what I love.

“We covered 3,000 feet of elevation and it was honestly the hardest race we’ve taken part in, but it was as brilliant as it was brutal and the icing on the cake was seeing the penguins as we crossed the finish line.”

However, the determined fitness fanatic hasn’t been alone on this journey as she has had her close friend Jan Fellowes by her side.

During the Antarctica marathon Jan was the first lady aged over 60 to complete the race and her husband Paul won first place in the half marathon.

So far, Debbie is only one of 7,000 people worldwide to collect the Six Star Finisher after completing her “most challenging marathon” in Antarctica. The other five marathons in 2018 were in New York, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London and Tokyo.

With only one continent now left – South America – the running duo plan to take part in the Rio Marathon this spring to complete their lifelong dream.