Finn McNally gains an advantage over his rivals every time he goes to bed.

McNally’s fortunes have taken off since he began sleeping in an altitude tent in November.

The 24-year-old from Hove has already wiped more than a minute off his personal best for the 10k thanks to a little night-time help and stormed to a record-breaking victory at the Sussex Cross Country Championships earlier this month.

McNally rents the altitude tent from a company called Affinity Altitude which was set up by Great Britain middle distance star Charlie Grice who is a club-mate at Brighton Phoenix. Grice regularly trains at altitude in Africa and the tent provides McNally with similar benefits without having to leave his bedroom.

He said: “I’d heard of Affinity Altitude through Charlie so I contacted them and they wanted me to be their first athlete. I am a bit of a guinea pig but people are starting to ask about it more.

“It just goes over my bed and means I’m breathing low oxygen while I’m asleep which helps to produce more red blood cells. It is not much fun as you wake up a lot more because the air is so thin but it is worth it as you really do notice the benefits.

“It is quite a new concept but I think it is something that will catch on as you are gaining every night. It is completely legal so I think it is time people started knowing a bit more about the benefits it can bring.

“Mo Farah lives in an altitude flat and a lot of people at the top level use altitude tents or something similar but for some reason they try to keep it secret. To run fast it is not just about training hard and eating the right stuff. You have got to look for an advantage wherever you can.”

The affect has been astonishing on McNally’s performances, especially as the former Cardinal Newman pupil had barely run a competitive race for the previous three years.

Such has been his form that McNally will line up as one of the favourites at the notoriously tough Southern Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill next weekend.

His improvement cannot all be put down to an altitude tent, however. McNally has also put in a lot of hard work since returning to serious training a few months ago while persuading former Olympic marathon runner Richard Nerurkar to agree to be his coach was another key step.

McNally added: “I finished university in 2014 and didn’t really run too much while I was there. I always knew there would come a point where I would start to fully commit and that happened in November.

“I was waiting for things in my life to settle down as to be a good runner you can’t really do things half-heartedly. You have to be willing to commit to it day in, day out.

“When I decided to commit I approached Richard. I wanted him to coach me because he knows what it takes to be a top runner but I knew it was going to be hard to convince him as he is not really interested in coaching.

“He is the best coach I have ever spoken to and I had to get him on board.

“He didn’t want to do it at first as he has his own life but I pleaded with him so he agreed to give me one chance.

“At the moment it is all very new so I’m taking each week as it comes. I hadn’t run a cross country race for over a year when I went to the Sussex Championships so I wasn’t 100% sure how I would get on.

“I’ll go to the Southerns and see what happens and after that who knows?

“The Southerns will be tough but the shape I am in suggests I should be up there competing and could potentially win it.”