Wollacombe runner Kevin Carr is hoping to become the first person ever to run the length of the Sahara desert unaided in his "26x40 challenge".

The 27-year-old plans to run a marathon a day for 40 days on a 1,066 mile course from Morocco to Mauritania.

"I can go and do a marathon on any particular day, I don't need to change my diet," he told BBC Spotlight.

He begins his run towards the end of February next year and hopes to complete the course by April.

"For me to go and run the desert and run for that length of time is the equivalent challenge to someone who has never run before trying to do a marathon," he added.

I don't want to be doing someone else's story, I want to be doing my own challenge Kevin Carr

Carr will be completely unaided for his journey and is planning to stash food and water along his route and recover them with the help of a GPS unit.

"Last year was the first time it was run ever at all and that was a group of three runners.

"I decided that if I was going to train for two years to do something it's going to be something that hasn't been done before.

"I don't want to be doing someone else's story, I want to be doing my own challenge," he said.