A kind-hearted Tranent runner has completed one of the world’s most difficult races, and raised more than £11,500 for a charity which helped his deaf niece.

Mike Hancock, from Toll House Gardens in the town, only took up running two years ago, but has defied the odds to finish in an impressive tenth place in the gruelling 4 Deserts Gobi March.

The 43-year-old had to endure temperatures ranging from zero degrees Celsius at the beginning, as the runners traversed mountain ranges, to between 45 and 50 degrees as they crossed the Gobi Desert.

Mike told the Courier: “It was great – I haven’t done anything like that before and I managed to finish 10th, which was beyond any expectation I had.” He was delighted to have raised a huge total for National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), which provided a lifeline to niece Emily when she started to lose her hearing when she was 18 months old.

“I thought about Emily and the way she deals with her disability on a daily basis,” he said. “It’s like she has no disability. Emily acts like a completely normal child and doesn’t let it get her down. If she can do that, then a wee run through the desert should be nothing to complain about.

“The NDCS provided a lot of help for my sister [Emily’s mum] when she was diagnosed and I wanted to give something back to them.” Despite undertaking extensive training, Mike admits to struggling with the extreme heat, particularly in the race’s latter stages.

“I think that the [mountain] stage helped me because the temperatures there were between 0 and 10 and it was snowing and raining – I was used to training in the Scottish winter, so that was fine,” he said.

“As we dropped down more, though, the temperatures got hotter, and it was really hot – between 45 and 50 degrees – and that took its toll. The longest day took me 11 hours to complete. Some people stopped and did it over two days but I just wanted to get it over and done with.” On the final stage, despite being exhausted and suffering with the heat, he managed to run for the first 30 miles, more than a marathon, but was later forced to walk, as the heat and the terrain took their toll.

Mike admits he has “never done anything like that before”, but will be looking for another epic race to take part in soon.

The NDCS is the UK’s ­leading charity dedicated to helping deaf children and their families. There are more than 45,000 deaf children in the UK and the society aims to helps them by providing practical and emotional support to them and their families, and by challenging governments and society to meet their needs.

To donate to Mike’s fundraising page, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MikeHancock