Most people in their sixties would consider a walk in the park to be strenuous exercise, but one woman has proved age is no barrier to athletic prowess after she completed six marathons in six days.

Marian Gray, 60, who lives in Carrington Avenue in Borehamwood, took a break from her job as school business manager at St Teresa's Catholic Primary School in Shenley Road to scale mountains and sand dunes in Jordan.

Carrying everything she needed for six days in the desert on her back, the mother-of-two set off from Wadi Rum in southern Jordan on February 16.

She braved temperatures of 30°C and treacherous terrain to complete the 155 miles to Petra, covering at least 26 miles a day.

She walked and ran for seven and a half hours a day and stayed in basic tents provided by the Bedouin at night.

She said: “The terrain was so varied and different. We were falling behind on Thursday so we had to walk continuously through the night to make up the difference, scrambling down a mountain in the dark.”

She completed the race on Saturday, winning first place in her age category

Mrs Gray took part in her first marathon in 2000. Since then has carried out six ultra marathons, as well as 15 single ones, and has no intention of slowing down.

She said: “I felt a great sense of achievement from finishing, I was over the moon really. The thing is if you don’t push yourself you never know what you’re able to achieve. You’re never too old to push your limits.”

Mrs Gray is already planning her next challenge, which will be a trek across the Gobi Desert in 2016.