MOST people go to Loch Ness to admire the scenery – or hunt a monster.

Railway worker Jon Ironmonger went there to put his body through an astonishing ultra challenge.

And he completed it, in a little over 10 hours.

Jon, who is team leader at Huddersfield Railway Station, took part in the First Monster Challenge at the weekend.

It entailed a run of 26 miles – the distance of a marathon – followed by a 50-mile cycle ride.

And he admitted: “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

Jon, 31, chose to tackle the event as an individual although it is mainly aimed at four-man teams. Sunday’s winning team completed the challenge in five hours and 27 minutes.

“I had done it before as part of a team from First TransPennine and enjoyed it, so I thought I’d have a go on my own.

“I used to be a fitness trainer but I don’t do as much exercise now as I should and I thought this would be a test.

“We set off from Inverness on the roads and then followed the Great Glen Way to a height of more than 1,000-feet, which was pretty tough.

“The course then took us back down to the shores of Loch Ness to Altsigh, where we got on the bikes.

“The first part of the cycle ride was very hard. It was off-road and on some steep sections to Fort Augustus, before we got back on to the roads for the run back to Inverness.”

Jon, who has worked at Huddersfield station since 2004, had trained for the challenge by running 20-30 miles per week and also cycled over 300 miles in four months taking in as much hill training as possible to prepare for the highland terrain.

He also took part in the Jane Tomlinson 10k run in York in July raising yet more money for charity and receiving £400 from employer First Group towards the good cause.

He said: “I was extremely determined to finish and the fact I was doing this to raise money for Save the Children drove me even more.”

The First Monster Challenge is a 120km duathlon relay for teams of four . It consists of eight stages – four running and four cycling and each competitor completes one of the running stages and one of the cycling stages.

Jon has already raised several hundred pounds for his chosen cause and hopes that he and two teams from First TransPennine who also completed the challenge will have raised more than £2,000.