RIBCHESTER ultra-endurance runner Dave Moretta has said that he is absolutely gutted after his latest world record attempt ended in failure.

The 28-year-old was forced to abandon his bid to run 355 miles in four days without sleeping after suffering from dehydration and diarrhoea.

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Mr Moretta, who has previously completed 18 marathons in 18 days, had hoped the feat would earn him a world record for the most miles ever run non-stop by an individual.

The father-of-two was aiming to snatch the record from American endurance runner Dean Kanazes, who ran an astonishing 350 miles in 2005.

Mr Moretta, a former Ribblesdale High School student, travelled to Inverness in Scotland with his eight-man safety team to start the run to Preston.

However the dad-of-two had to throw in the town shortly before 6am on Tuesday when he was just over 20 hours and 75 miles into the challenge.

The former solider had expected the run to last for four days and was raising money for The Royal British Legion.

He said: “I’m absolutely gutted not to have completed it this time but I intend to attempt it again in the future.

“I had been going well but by the end of the day I was 25 miles down on the schedule and was not feeling well at all.

“I had around 10 toilet stops along the way and my body was rejecting something that I had eaten.

“It’s just one of those things and you can do all the training but then your body does not cooperate.

“Breaking the record would have opened a lot of doors for me so this is a set back but it’s not going to stop me running or trying to break records again.

“This was something that you can’t predict and nothing wrong was with our preparation.”

In preparation for the daunting challenge, he had been running 125 miles a week, depriving himself of sleep and completed a 200-mile run without rest a few weeks before the attempt started.

Before taking up long-distance running, Mr Moretta joined the army in 2003, aged 16.

He served in countries including Iraq, Germany and Cyprus as a Kingsman in the Duke of Lancaster Regiment before leaving the forces in 2008.