A FUNDRAISER who ran the length of the Americas is getting ready to lace up his running shoes once again.

Jamie Ramsay spent 17 months running almost constantly after setting off from Vancouver, Canada, in August 2014.

Then, at the end of last year – after making his way through 14 countries and covering 18,000 kilometres – he reached the finish line in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.

Now he is getting ready once again to start running, although this time it is a little bit closer to home as he runs across the Outer Hebrides and Skye.

Jamie, who grew up in Whittingehame, said: “I wanted to do another running adventure but did not know where I wanted to go – there were too many places to choose from.

“What I did was put a collection of places up on my website and, to add another element, I let people choose my next run.

“There were Scotland, Norway, Sweden, France and the USA to choose from and 30 per cent of the people chose Scotland, so I’m going there, which is great.

“I’m obviously Scottish and I have never been to the Outer Hebrides.”

The 36-year-old plans to take the train from London to Oban on Monday before heading across to the south of Barra the following day.

On Wednesday, he will start his 300-kilometre run north to Port Ness, on the isle of Lewis, and is then planning to head to Uig, on the Isle of Skye, and continue his run.

Jamie said: “I was talking to people today about the Outer Hebrides and everybody is very excited about me going there.

“You forget how much incredible stuff there is, how much natural beauty and how much historical beauty there is.”

The former pupil of Belhaven Hill School and Musselburgh’s Loretto School returned from his amazing run of the Americas at the start of the year.

However, he has not sat still for long, instead completing the Three Peaks Challenge two months ago.

Normally, people would climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours and drive between each of the peaks.

Jamie instead climbed one and then ran to the next one, completing the challenge in two weeks.

Now he is getting ready to head north of the Border and is again attempting to raise money and awareness for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). The charity aims to raise awareness about, and prevent, male suicide.

Currently, suicide stands as the biggest single killer of men aged under 45 in the country.

Jamie has already raised more than £20,000 for the charity but is determined to do even more.

He said: “It is a charity I can continue to work with and contribute positively to without it being just about raising money – raising awareness is just as important. If people are in difficult situations, it is just to promote that there are people out there.”