South Hams runner Ewen McColl took part in a race through history when he completed the 44-mile D-day challenge run in Normandy.

Taking place on June 6 (D-Day), the run started at Pointe du Hoc and took in the five beaches of Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword and Juno, finishing at Pegasus Bridge.

The start at Pointe du Hoc is the location where Colonel Rudder led an elite group of 200 United States rangers up the chalk cliffs using ropes and ladders.

After dispatching the German sentries at the top of the cliff, their mission was to find and destroy large battery guns.

The finish at Pegasus Bridge is an icon of the first few hours of the D-Day invasion. It was here where Horsa gliders, part of the three airborne divisions deployed during the night of June 5, landed 50 metres away from the canal bridge and Airborne soldiers secured the bridge.

The event was all the more significant for Ewen as he had served in the Army with a close personal friend who had died on the run five years previously.

Ewen had served with Lt Col. Mike McErlain, an orthopaedic trauma surgeon. Following Mike’s service in Afghanistan he set up the D-Day 44 Challenge to raise funds for service personnel who have lost limbs.

Sadly, Mike died while doing the run on June 6, 2013, but with the blessing of Mike’s widow Jo, the event returned in 2018 to raise money for Blesma the Limbless Veterans, Blind Veterans UK and Combat Stress.

During the 44-mile run Ewen had the chance to stop at the spot where Mike died and then continued to progress through the field of runners. Many of the runners were serving or ex-service personnel including two US Marines officers, who had travelled from Louisiana to take part in the event.

Ewen, from West Alvington, who is a veteran of marathons across the world, was delighted to finish first in the field and to receive the McErlain Trophy from Mike’s wife.

His achievement, however, was put in perspective by a veteran who finished the gruelling race with one prosthetic leg.