TWO years ago doctors told Billy Isherwood that if he had one more drink he would be dead.

For the father-of-three from Farnworth who had been battling alcoholism for 30 years and was also a drug user, it was a wake-up call.

And last month the 55-year-old took part in the Atacama Desert Crossing in Chile a gruelling 150 mile race across some of the toughest terrain known to man.

He ran a marathon a day in 40 degree heat for four days and then two on the fifth completing the course in 71 hours and becoming one of only 178 people in the world to have ever crossed the finishing line.

He raised hundreds of pounds for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Mr Isherwood, who trained as a counsellor during his recovery, said: "I couldn't tell you why I drank, I just did. I'd go on benders and then there was the pot and LSD.

"I was drinking myself into an early grave but it took that warning from the doctors and running to turn my life around.

"I decided I was going to get fit and joined a gym. To start with, I could only manage five minutes on the treadmill but then someone challenged me to run 10km. After that I thought if I can do that, why not a marathon."

Two marathons and five half-marathons later, he set himself the challenge of taking part in the desert run widely regarded as the ultimate endurance race.

The region is 50 times more arid than California's notorious Death Valley.

Mr Isherwood, who was born and borught up in Farnworth, but has since moved to Whitby, said: "No amount of training can prepare you for the desert.

"People say the terrain is the closest thing on earth to Mars and its where NASA test out their vehicles.

"I think I averaged about three hours sleep a night. I survived on a diet of power bars by the end of the race I'd lost 13 pounds.

"It never entered my head that I was going to quit."

Mr Isherwood is now focusing his efforts on writing. Already a published poet, Mr Isherwood is working on two books one about his childhood and growing up in Farnworth where his family still live and the other provisionally titled Dead Man Running about his desert experience.

To contact Mr isherwood call 0777 248 4267 or email atacamabilly@yahoo.co.uk