A super-fit Edinburgh doctor and a friend have run up and down Mount Kilimanjaro in just one day as they begin a gruelling challenge of completing 17 consecutive ultra-marathons in East Africa.

Dr Andrew Murray, 32, left, and former Marine commando Donnie Campbell, 28, made the 19,341ft ascent in seven hours and 16 minutes, taking the Western Breach route, considered to be the mountain's steepest path.

On average, people take a week to make the climb. Dr Murray, who specialises in sports medicine at the sportscotland Institute of Sport, is running 31 miles each day in an attempt to find out what makes distance runners from the region the best in the world.

After climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania the adventurers are continuing with runs through Kenya, particularly the Rift Valley.