A DENTIST is celebrating after completing a gruelling 250km self-reliant endurance challenge in Iceland.

Briony Wood, who is the practice principal at Wimborne Dental, took part in the six-stage Fire and Ice Ultra.

The event, which takes entrants across a variety of landscapes and terrains, is one of the toughest ultra endurance style runs in the world and is described as "Iceland's toughest foot race".

Only 62 people participated in the challenge, with Briony finishing 48th and 12th out of the 21 female entrants.

The day after completing the event was Briony's 50th birthday.

She said it was pleasing to complete the challenge quicker than people considerably younger than herself.

"I've been running for about 10 years. In 2011, I did a one-day ultra," Briony said.

"This event came up and I wanted to see if I could push the boundaries. It's a challenging event and I like a challenge.

"It was an amazing experience. I didn't quite anticipate how difficult the different terrains would be and the weather was quite different across the run.

"For the first two stages it was foggy and wet. As we went further north it got warmer and we were in shorts and T-shirts."

Despite covering the equivalent distance of going from Bournemouth to Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast, Briony only came away with two heel blisters, while some of her fellow runners were nursing stress fractures.

To prepare for the task of surviving unaided in difficult conditions, Briony tested her endurance by completing a 100km ultra marathon in May so she had an idea of how quickly she could go over the long distances.

Alongside this she did a lot of interval training, running five days a week as a memember of Wimborne Athletic Club.

As well as taking part in the epic event, Briony, who lives in Broadstone, raised money for local charity Autism Wessex.

To donate to Briony's fundraising page go to www.virginmoneygiving.com/brionywood2017.