FORMER international road cyclist Roddy Riddle will be spending most of his time this winter inside giant walk-in freezers.

When he is not acclimatising himself to the sub-zero temperatures of meat hangars and warehouse chillers, he will be hitting the snow-covered slopes of the Cairngorms - all in the name of diabetes awareness.

Yet all of this, ironically, is just a warm-up for the real challenge ahead: a four-day 'Ice Ultra' marathon across the Arctic in aid of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Mr Riddle, who competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, will set off on the 230km (142 mile) race across the frozen landscapes of Swedish Lapland and the Arctic in February next year, where he will endure temperatures of -30°C.

The 45-year-old from Inverness, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2009 after losing three stone in just six weeks, wants to raise awareness of the disease and prove to other sufferers that it does not have to stand in the way of anything they want to achieve.

It comes after he successfully completed the gruelling six-day Marathon de Sables across the Sahara last year, which saw him raise £26,000 for charity by completing the 251km (155 mile) race in scorching temperatures of up to 50°C.

However, the father-of-three expects next year's ice marathon to be even tougher than his Sahara experience.

He said: "This is going to be so much tougher. I don't like the cold. So it's going to be really important for me to have my clothing just right. If you are running in -30C with -10C clothing on, you'll end up with frostbite."