AN INSPIRATIONAL runner who has covered thousands of kilometres across the world has spent time trekking with camels in sub-zero temperatures.

Jamie Ramsay is more associated with long-distance runs but swapped that for a trip to Mongolia at the end of last year.

The former Belhaven Hill School, Stenton Primary School and Loretto School pupil, originally from Whittingehame, previously spent 18 months running from Canada to Argentina.

Other challenges have seen him run through Europe and cycle across South America.

But he recently swapped his running shoes for -20C temperatures and 40 days in Mongolia, where he took part in a trekking expedition.

He told the Courier: “I got a Facebook message from somebody who was on an expedition. They were basically looking for people to come out and join them for a couple of months.

“I looked at it and thought, ‘Walking? I’ve never done that’; ‘Animals? I’ve never done that’; ‘-20C? I’ve never done that’; ‘In a team? I’ve never done that’. That challenged me across different disciplines and I just thought, ‘Why not?’

“It was great fun and we got some great photographs doing that as well.”

Jamie, who has previously raised thousands of pounds for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), spoke to the Courier on Monday evening while he was enjoying a visit back to his home county of East Lothian.

Despite being home, he was not taking a break from running.

He posted a message on Facebook earlier this month asking if anyone would be interested in joining him on a run from Traprain Law to North Berwick Law.

Nine or 10 fellow running enthusiasts signed up for the challenge and made the near-16-kilometre run on Saturday.

Jamie said: “The weird thing is when I lived here I was never much of a runner. I had never run that route before, even though I lived here for my whole childhood.

“I don’t think many of the people that ran on Saturday had run it before either.”

It was not just the run which brought him back to East Lothian, though.

Jamie spoke at Dunbar Running Club on Friday evening at their annual dinner and prizegiving event.

Nick Williamson, president of the club, said: “We found it really interesting and he was quite an inspiration to a group of about 20 of us there.

“Normally we don’t have any kind of speaker and it is a straight meal and prizegiving but our chairman, Dr Neil Jones, bumped into him in Pressmennan Woods when he was doing an open-water swim.

“Dr Jones got chatting to him and thought he was a pretty amazing guy, who did pretty amazing things.”

Jamie is also working on a book reflecting on his incredible 17,000-kilometre run from Vancouver to Buenos Aires.

The trip got under way in August 2014 and saw him pass through 14 different countries as he travelled north to south.