A woman from Cork has become the first visually impaired athlete to complete the World Marathon Challenge - seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

Sinead Kane was born with just 5% vision. She began the gruelling challenge on January 23 by running a marathon in Antarctica. She described this race as the ‘toughest' one due to the weather conditions, with the temperature falling to -35C during parts of the race.

She completed the marathon in five hours and 22 minutes.

Her second marathon was in Punta Arenas in Chile, while the third was in Miami.

She then moved on to Madrid, Marrakech and Dubai, before completing her seventh and final marathon in Sydney on January 29 in a time of four hours and 42 minutes.

Ms Kane, who ran with her guide runner, John O'Regan, only started running five years ago. She is also a solicitor and PhD student.