IN what is hailed 'the toughest footrace on the planet', two Tavistock athletes have emerged 'out of the Saharan desert' with one finishing among the front runners.

Jo Meek, aged 35, was the second woman to finish and 22nd overall in the gruelling ultra Marathon des Sables in Morocco, a race held over five stages in six days of 140 miles in length — or 5.5 marathons.

Her husband Jon, 48 a fellow Tavistock Athletic Club member, also ran superbly, despite sickness, to finish 370th out of 970 finishers.

The Meeks and their competitors, including six other British runners, were under constant threat by scorpions, snakes and sandstorms with one stage held at night.

The 1,020 men and women of all ages from almost 50 countries ran, walked and crawled through rocks and sand, over salt plains, stony desert and sand dunes up to 150 metres high and experienced sandstorms and blazing temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.

Jo, a military physiotherapist at HMS Drake, Devonport, told the Times: 'The climax was quite overwhelming and we are only now able to sink in what we actually achieved. We did not underestimate the challenge. I was more acclimatised to the heat, having trained especially using a heat chamber at Marjons.'

Now home in Tavistock she added: 'The cameradarie among our fellow competitors was immense, I have never experienced anything like that before and it was especially rewarding to be able to motivate others.

'We never had doubts we would complete it but it's taking us ten days to recover!'

Participants carry all their provisions on their backs for the duration of the ultra-marathon, including a weighty, emergency flare.

Event organisers only provide a tent to sleep in at night and rationed water at race checkpoints and at the end of each day.

Participants have to manage their water supply carefully and efficiently — they are fined if they use extra water, with an hour's penalty if competitors need hydrating by IV drip.

At night they sleep in traditional Moroccan bivouacs, cook their own meals and visit medics for treatment of blisters and heat exhaustion.

For Jo it was a phenomenal achievement, coming home the first woman in the final leg a 42.2-kilometre (26.2-mile) route between Jebel el Mraier and Merdani but she was beaten by Meghan Hicks, of the USA, overall. Jo's time of 25 hours 41 minutes 01 seconds secured her 22nd place overall in the race won by Moroccan Mohamad Ahansal in 18hrs 59mins 35secs.

Paul Marshall and Sheila Houghton, on behalf of TAC, said of their acheivements: 'Everyone at the club is hugely impressed by Jo and Jon's outstanding triumph in the Saharan desert. Our heartfelt congratulations go out to them for completing such an amazing feat. Nothing could ever top what they have done!'

Jo is now looking forward to the next challenge — her success means she has earned automatic qualification to another 140 ultra, the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica next February, running through rainforests.