Troon Morrisons’ store manager completed the unenviable challenge of the Ultra Tour of Arran last weekend.

Billy Matthews took on the gruelling fundraiser, which included two days worth of running through forests, scaling mountains and taking in the wonderful scenery if the weather allowed.

He completed the challenge whilst raising funds for Beat – the UK’s leading eating disorder support charity.

A fitness fanatic at the best of times, Billy had to wait a year to complete the challenge because it had been postponed due to the pandemic.

This gave him more time to train and prepare for the tour, which he completed in a remarkable time of 11 hours and 49 minutes.

Looking back, Billy is delighted that he took part, and was happy with his performance as well.

He told the Advertiser: “I’d been training for a long time and eagerly waiting for it because it got postponed.

“When we actually got into it then it actually went really well, I was happy with how I did and what time I got.

“I’ve run marathons in the past before but when I saw about this and watched the promotional video and stuff for it then I was absolutely hooked.

“It was a shame that it was cloudy, because you couldn’t take in the views that were there, but it was great.”

Billy was supporting the charity, Beat, for personal reasons and set a target of £500 initially which he has already smashed through and is on the verge of doubling.

He’s extremely grateful for the support the charity gave to his family and for the support people gave to him.

He added: “The charity have been amazing with helping us and that’s why I wanted to do it for them.

“You don’t properly realise the impact of an eating disorder until you’re experiencing it firsthand.

“All the team at Morrisons did an amazing job in supporting me, as did all the generous customers.”