A FORMER bus driver turned ultra distance runner who once feared she might lose a leg is gearing up for her latest epic challenge – to set four world records by running more than 200 miles in 48 hours.

Sharon Gayter has crossed the finish line at more than 300 marathons and 100 endurance races, including the Badwater Ultramarathon, an excruciating 135 miles across Death Valley which is billed as the hottest race on earth.

But the part-time lecturer at Teesside University from Guisborough thinks pounding the treadmill for a gruelling 48 hours will be her toughest feat yet.

“The 48 hour world record is one that I have been eager to do for a long-time and I am very much looking forward to it. But it will be the hardest one as I’ll have to set a good pace for the first 12 hours and then just keep on going as best I can.

“I’m grateful to Teesside University for once again showing me incredible support and I’m both mentally and physically prepared for the challenge ahead.”

The world record for distance covered on a treadmill in 48 hours is 322.93km, just over 200 miles.

Petite Sharon, who admits that chocolate is her only vice and enjoys a diet dominated by potatoes and custard, is also hoping to break the 12 hour record which stands at 96.80km, just over 60 miles.

And she is also aiming to set two new world records for the fastest time running both 100km and 100 miles.

The world record attempts get underway at midday on Tuesday until Thursday lunchtime.

In 2011 she hit the headlines when she spent seven days on a treadmill, smashing both the men’s and women’s world records and covering a total distance of 833.05km or 517.63 miles. The record is yet to be beaten.

When she took up running it took her three weeks to complete the mile she measured around the block but she went on to win a gold medal at a Commonwealth Championships 24 hour event.

Her passion for his walking brought her to Middlesbrough from Cambridge where she became a bus driver but decided to change careers and go to university after three thugs beat her up to steal that day’s takings.

Two weeks before the World Championships in 2010 she was told she may have to have a leg amputated after a hospital scan revealed a cyst but her limb was saved after radical stem cell treatment.

“I wanted to do a six-day road race in Athens and finish first, I beat the nearest man by 120km – that was some comeback year,” she added.