A hero Scot has become the first double leg amputee to run six marathons in as many days in the Sahara desert.
Duncan Slater, who lost both legs while serving as a sergeant in Afghanistan, completed the 156 miles Marathon Des Sables in Morocco on Friday.
The ex-RAF platoon sergeant has raised £20,000 for servicemen and women in his second attempt at the endurance event.
Mr Slater, from Muir of Ord in Ross-shire, said he hoped to “inspire other wounded, injured and sick from the armed forces community and beyond”.
Since last Sunday, Mr Slater and his former colleague Chris Moore have been travelling across the Sahara desert in temperatures reaching 50C.
Mr Slater, now based in Norwich, lost both his legs in a blast in Afghanistan in 2009.
He was told by doctors that he would never walk again after being injured by a roadside bomb at Babaji in Helmand Province, where he served with the RAF Regiment.
After his injury, he spent a year in a wheelchair before doctors told him he would need to have his legs amputated.
However, within six weeks Mr Slater was making strides on his new prosthetic limbs.
And after he crossed the finish line at the marathon, Mr Slater said he wanted other amputees to “know that there is life beyond injury”.
It was a double victory for the charity walker – who is raising money for Walking with the Wounded’s project for former servicemen and women with mental health difficulties – as his first attempt at the race last year ended at the end of day four, due to the damage being done to his legs.
Since then, he was been working with groundbreaking new prosthetics experts to ensure he crossed the finish line second-time round.
Kensington Palace, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official residence, tweeted its congratulations to Mr Slater, describing him as a “huge inspiration”.
