NURSE Vicky Whitfield is no stranger to fitness but nothing could prepare her for the heat and punishment of one of the world's toughest races.

Miss Whitfield, 36, of Bishop Road, Calne, swam, cycled and ran alongside 700 other competitors in the gruelling Iron Man Triathlon in Lanzarote in May and in doing so raised £1,000 for the Dorothy House Hospice.

One of the most physically demanding races of its kind, participants in the contest swim for 2.4 miles before cycling through volcanic mountain ranges for 112 miles and finishing with a 26.2 mile marathon alongside the seafront to Puerto del Carmen.

Miss Whitfield, who has been a staff nurse at Chippenham Community Hospital for four years, said: "I have competed in numerous triathlons but never been involved with anything this big.

"It's hot and windy and the roads aren't in a particularly brilliant condition.

"Afterwards I felt exhausted and my legs were throbbing, but I felt exhilarated as well."

A committed fitness enthusiast, Miss Whitfield regularly runs or cycles the seven miles from her home in Calne, to Chippenham Hospital.

She began running in her late 20s to stay slim, but was prompted to take part in triathlons by her partner Steve Whittle, 36.

"My boyfriend started running and swimming and when he joined a triathlon club I joined with him," she explained.

"It is one of the toughest events you can do, but if you get injured running you can always do biking or swimming and you also don't get bored."

Also a member of Marlborough and District Triathlon Club, she added: "I try to do something each day. I work full time and it can be difficult to fit it all in, but I do it when I can.

"I have been known to run both ways, from Calne to Chippenham and back again, but not very often."

Despite a training schedule that would put most of us to shame, Miss Whitfield said she feared she would not even make it to the first marker in the Iron Man contest.

"The bike ride is over 4,000 metres uphill and I did not know if I'd do it before the cut off point," she explained.

"The bike and swim is one section and then you have to do that in ten and a half hours. I did it in nine hours 18 minutes."

"During the swim you worry that someone may swim over you and you get bumped about a lot.

"But on the run you do four laps and you see other competitors you know, which was nice because I saw my boyfriend who was up ahead of me."

Miss Whitfield decided to raise money through her run for Dorothy House Hospice after experiencing their work with patients at Rowan East Ward at Chippenham Hospital.

"The Dorothy House Hospice come and visit our terminal patients every week and they rely on charitable donations, so I thought it was a great cause," she explained.

Jennie Flory, director of fundraising for Dorothy House, said: "It is staggering achievement and Vicky should feel rightly proud."