A Whangamata teacher has smashed the Nine New Zealand ‘Great Walks' record.

Ryan Thompson has completed the challenge in six days and 15 hours.

Ryan Thompson enjoyed the fantastic scenery during his record-breaking Nine New Zealand Great Walks challenge. Photo: stuff.co.nz

He beat the previous record of 9 days and 23 hours set by Ben Southall, Luke Edwards and Patrick Kinsella last year, at 1am on Wednesday at the end of the Lake Waikaremoana walk.

He was feeling so good he even did an extra 8km at the end to trick a friend who was running with him.

'Yeah it was amazing, the last couple of kilometres I was just loving it,” he says.

Despite finishing on a high, the Opoutere School teacher says there were a few moments that were really tough.

Thompson covered the Kepler and Routeburn tracks in 15 hours after only having one and a half hours of sleep the night before.

'That was the biggest day, 92 km that day. I started running at 1am that morning to fit them in.”

Thompson says the support he had and the help of his sponsors kept him going, as did the beauty of the tracks.

'The scenery was amazing, it kept me really motivated, every single track was just stunning and an awesome experience.”

Thompson says the 55.2km Abel Tasman Coastal Track, which is recommended to be completed in three to five days, was done in ten and a half hours.

'My body was really starting to feel it by that stage, it was a really tough day. It was a big relief to get that done and get on the ferry on time.”

One of the walks in the challenge isn't a walk at all, it's a 145km kayak on the Whanganui River.

Doing that for 14 hours solo was also a big challenge for Thompson.

'It was hard mainly just trying to stay alert and staying concentrated because I was so tired from everything I had already done.”

A lot of interesting people joined Thompson on his journey. After completing the Milford track one person really left an impression on the runner.

'This guy had just appeared out of his boat in just his underwear and started interrogating us and wondering what we were doing. We thought it was quite strange he was just in his undies, but he seemed to think it was quite normal.”

THE NINE NEW ZEALAND ‘GREAT WALKS'.

• The Rakiura Track (32km), Stewart Island
• The Kepler Track (60km), Fiordland
• The Routeburn Track (32km), Fiordland
• The Milford Track (53.5km), Fiordland
• The Heaphy Track (78.4km), Kahurangi National Park
• The Abel Tasman Coastal Track (55.2km), Abel Tasman National Park
• The Whanganui River Journey (145km),
• The Tongariro Northern Circuit Track (43km), Tongariro National Park
• The Lake Waikaremoana Track (46km), Te Urewera National Park

- Stuff