When Tom Fairbrother crossed the finish line of his first ever ultra-marathon eight minutes ahead of his closest rival, despite having taken a wrong turn and run an extra mile, all he felt was relief that he had survived the gruelling test of endurance.

But that relief soon turned to anger when, after being photographed and interviewed as the winner, he was told that he was being disqualified because he didn’t complete the course.

This was despite assurances from Race to the Stones organisers that he could still take home the trophy from the non-stop 100k Race even though he had taken a wrong track.

“Obviously the whole experience has left a bitter taste,” Mr Fairbrother wrote on his blog.

“To have run my first ultra… plus an extra mile, gone through the embarrassment of being announced as the winner, then removed, and ending up with nothing to show for my efforts (finish time, result or prize) is a great shame.”

Organisers have insisted that it was a miscommunication and they thought he was back on the set course ready to complete it when they spoke to him and told him to get over the finish line.

Mr Fairbrother, a recovering bulimia sufferer who aims to raise awareness of eating disorders in sport, has described how he was exhausted as he tried to complete the longest run of his life when he came to a fork in the trail at 57 miles.