Huddersfield-based Shane Mooney has become the first Irishman ever to complete the 430 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra Marathon, writes Patrick Moore.

Shane’s trail in north west Canada took him a total of 10 days, 19 hours, and 31 minutes to finish, ending in joint 8th place in the foot race of the world’s toughest and coldest ultra-marathon.

“I’ve never worked for anything harder in my entire life,” said 25-year-old Shane, a physiotherapist at Prosport Physiotherapy Huddersfield Clinic in Salendine Nook.

Shane Mooney who became the first Irish man ever to complete the 430 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra Marathon in Canada last month (he's originally from Waterford but lived and works in Huddersfield since 2010)

“I was overwhelmed when I finished the race with all my family and friends. It’s a bit of a daze looking back but really it was just a sense of massive relief to have done it.

“To be the first man from Ireland to complete that is something I will look back and can be immensely proud of.”

The University of Huddersfield graduate, who moved to West Yorkshire in 2010 to study, revealed that temperatures would hit as low as -50 degrees.

Shane Mooney (right) who became the first Irish man ever to complete the 430 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra Marathon in Canada last month (he's originally from Waterford but lived and works in Huddersfield since 2010)

He stated on his blog after the race: “I started relatively well, took it steady in the middle and then made a big 66-mile final push. I had more sleep and moved a bit slower than I had planned, but made my ultimate goal and was over the moon.

“When I finished, I was never doing this race again, but already as the low points begin to fade I can see myself back.”

As he begun at Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon territory, and finished at Dawson City, Shane experienced some of the most beautiful sights the world offers.

Shane Mooney who became the first Irish man ever to complete the 430 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra Marathon in Canada last month (he's originally from Waterford but lived and works in Huddersfield since 2010) the medal he won

But at the Pelly Crossing around 239 miles in to the marathon he noticed there were wolf tracks.

“They were literally everywhere,” he said. “I tried not to think about wolves moving around near me. I’d been told that a competitor had pulled out of Pelly Farm after being followed by three wolves for a day, with one getting to within 5 metres of him.”

And before then, as he trailed towards the 208-mile checkpoint at Carmacks to McCabe Creek, Shane revealed how he started to hallucinate.

“It was a massive drag and I had a sense of Déjà vu that made me hallucinate badly,” he said. “The trail seemed to be closing in and I could hear voices talking to me from the trees.”