ON Saturday, October 19, a Redditch grandad and retired University of Birmingham lecturer will prove age is no barrier as he takes on his latest half marathon running adventure.

This time Doug Richards, aged 65, will be setting out to the Arctic ice-cap of Greenland

Mr Richards, 65, who has overcome previous extreme weather conditions, from the heat of the Sahara to a Siberian winter, is relishing the opportunity to take part in a race in which runners pass glacier tongues, moraine landscapes and soundless, arctic desert, where musk oxen and reindeer live on the barren slopes.

“With temperatures likely to fall to below minus 20 degrees Centigrade, I will use crampon-like attachments on my trainers to stay upright on the ice-cap,” said Mr Richards.

"Dehydration can also be a problem in the very dry air, so I'm using an insulated drinks bladder on my back to prevent the fluid from freezing.”

Mr RIchards will be using the run to raise funds for the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA), a charity that helps to provide the support so rightly deserved by the RAF family of the past, present and future, and their dependants in need.

To help Mr Richards towards his fundraising target, visit www.justgiving.com/DougRichards-greenland.