AN INCREDIBLE charity challenge, which saw an East Lothian man run the length of the Americas, has been completed.

Jamie Ramsay has spent the last 17 months almost constantly running south having set off from Vancouver, Canada, in August 2014.

On December 30 – after making his way through 14 countries and covering 18,000 kilometres – he finally reached his finish line as he made it to the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.

The 36-year-old told the Courier: “The whole thing was memorable but there was a section crossing the Atacama Desert and the Andes.

“It was something I was always looking forward to and it was an amazing experience to do it.

“There were things that annoyed me at the time like raccoons trying to steal my food in the USA – which just really annoyed the hell out of me.

“I spent a night sleeping with an indigenous community in Panama, which was amazing – just the hospitality you get, that, is an overarching thing which was fantastic.

“Everyone was saying Mexico is dangerous, Guatemala is dangerous and that is not true.

“It is just an incident happened in a country.

“I've had the most amazing hospitality from every country."

Jamie took on the challenge, which was the equivalent of 428 marathons, to raise £20,0000 for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), Macmillan Cancer Support and WaterAid.

His fundraising total has now passed that landmark, with money continuing to come in from across the globe.

During the journey, he carried all his items – ranging from water bottles, sleeping bags, clothes and spare running shoes – in a baby stroller.

And, despite running almost every day – and going through 17 pairs of shoes – for 17 months, he was pleased to say he never had a single blister, with a niggling knee injury and upset stomach from drinking unfiltered water the worst of his ailments.

Jamie, who grew up in Whittingehame, was joined in Argentina by his girlfriend Christo before they flew home to London earlier this week.

And the former Belhaven Hill School and Musselburgh Loretto School pupil was not quite finished running, despite the 11,500-kilometre flight.

On Sunday, he ran from Heathrow Airport to College Green, near the Houses of Parliament, to complete an incredible journey.

Jamie, who took a sabbatical from his work as a partner in a London-based PR firm, admitted he was adjusting to life back in Britain.

He added: “It is not too bad because there are so many other things cropping up now I am back.

“I've got loads of blogs to catch up on and I'm going to write a book about it.

"At this stage, I've got a wonderful thing where I get to relive the expedition and go back to the beginning and go through videos, blogs and pictures and get to relive te experience."

However, despite only being back in the country for a matter of days, he has not ruled out once again lacing up his running shoes.

“I've had 17 months to think about what I do next,” he said.

“There are two things standing my way – someone to help me pay for it and getting permission from my girlfriend.

“I have got hopefully a couple of ideas.

“One is in the UK and one is in Europe and they are not just running but swimming as well.”

For more information, http://jamieisrunning.com