IT started out as an idea thrown around by a group of friends over a few drinks.

It ended with three Newport men taking part in one of the UK’s most demanding tests of endurance.

The Three Peaks Yacht Race involves 400 miles of sailing through some of UK’ s toughest waters plus three mountain marathons- up Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike.

Pill-based Pharmacist Andy Evans, 41, of Allt-yr-yn, decided to enter after a few beers with friends Stuart Quine, 45, and Laurie Wheeler, 46 from Cardiff. It is open to anyone and costs £500-a-boat.

They jointly own a yacht called Starship, but had never even entered a regatta before.

They planned to sail and use two seasoned runners for the marathons - which is what all the main contenders in the 33-strong field did.

But when these pulled out, they resolved to run themselves along with friends Jim Charles, 40, from Bettws, and Mark Lewis, 40, a surgeon at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

The men started training in January for last month’s week-long event, that started at Barmouth and ended on Ben Nevis.

Their ambition was just to finish, but they ended up winning the Tillman Trophy.

This was for the first team to finish and put four crew members on mountains - Mr Evans and Mr Charles both completed two marathons in three days, up Snowdon and Ben Nevis, while Mr Lewis and Mr Quine conquered Scafell Pike.

They ran out of food and water on the penultimate day and had to survive the final stages on chocolate peanuts.

They also considered quitting on the fourth day out of six, when they were at a low ebb and the tide was pushing them out.

“We dropped anchor until it turned and through pure determination just raced from midnight Wednesday for fourteen hours solid,” said Mr Evans. “Over the whole race, we had about two hours sleep a night.”

For safety reasons, each ship was fitted with satellite tracking devices.

This meant anyone could track progress on the organiser's website.

Mr Evans added: “This helped with tactical texting. A friend texted at 4am one morning to say 'turn around, you're going the wrong way and are going to hit rocks'.

After heeding his advice, he texted three hours later to say 'oh my god, you're up to second place'.”

All friends and family watched Starship on the internet and Mr Evans said "they told me it was very compelling, like watching Big Brother".

He received constant text-help and support from wife Alison and children Olivia, 11, Rachel, nine and Ella, five.

The yacht race ended at Fort William, where Mr Evans and Mr Charles started the run up Ben Nevis.

Through “sheer willpower” they finished nine minutes ahead of the second-placed contender for the Tillman Trophy.

The crew were unaware of the victory as they were asleep, while any plans for a celebration ended when Mr Evans and Mr Charles collapsed through exhaustion after one pint.

They finished 14th overall.

The men were raising money for childrens’ charity LATCH.

Visit www.justgiving.com/starship.