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Helen Kay overcame a pre-race fall to fly the flag for Radcliffe Athletic Club at Sunday’s London Marathon.

She was among more than 40,000 runners who ran the world-famous 26.2-mile course which starts in Greenwich and takes in iconic landmarks including the Cutty Sark and Tower Bridge.

Helen, who was running in aid of the charity Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide, tripped on the morning of the race, suffering cuts and bruises.

Despite this, she went on to cross the finish line on The Mall in 5:17:11 and described her first London Marathon as “amazing”.

She said: “After taking a tumble as soon as I left hotel, I had bruised and bloody knees and was worried I wouldn't be able to run, but the adrenaline kicked in.

“Having my name on my vest was the best thing I did. Everyone was shouting my name and I felt like a celebrity!

“I ran the first 5k a decent pace as I felt great, and going over Tower Bridge at half way was amazing.  

“I decided I would run/walk the last 10k, so I ran for 75 secs and walked 30 secs, and that seemed to do the trick. I felt strong and had a sprint finish in me – and my mum saw me on the BBC finishing strong!

“Although not my quickest marathon it, didn't matter as I had fun, high fived loads of kids, stopped to take photos and had to queue for a loo stop. I had a smile on my face the whole way round!”

People can sponsor Helen online.

Emma Wolstencroft was also in marathon action, this time a metric marathon.

She completed the 26.2k Chester Metric Marathon in a pb of 2:53:19 – which was even more impressive as the course turned out to be a kilometre longer than last year.

As well as a great goodie bag, Emma received an impressive “triple medal” for completing Chester’s three metric races in 2022: the marathon, half-marathon and 10k.

Sunshine, showers and high winds were the order of the day for the Radcliffe runners who turned out in force for the first cross country race of the season.

The first fixture of the Red Rose League is usually held on a flat course at Leigh, giving runners the chance to ease themselves in gently. With the venue unavailable, it was switched to the more testing, hilly course at Todmorden.

It was a fantastic cross country debut for Mia Derbyshire, who was 24th in 23:04 in the ladies’ race which was approximately 5k.

Also running were Paula Abernethy (25:47), Kathryn Davies (26:25), Karen Doherty (27:13), Louise Shield (28:28), Elaine Bailey (29:12) and Caroline Malone (31:20). The ladies’ team was 11^th.

Men over 60 could also run in the ladies’ race with Andy Wheeler clocking 36:20.

John Gibbs was first home for the club in the men’s race of approximately 10k, finishing 35^th in 32:28. Craig Norman ran 33:24, Simon Foulkes clocked 39:45 and Peter Hunter ran 41:30 despite the sole of his shoe falling off during the race!

Helen Kay warmed up for the London Marathon with a swift time of 27:53 in Saturday’s Victoria Dock parkrun.

Closer to home, Paul Benson ran 25:41 at Bolton parkrun while junior Robbie Parkinson was the club’s first finisher in 24:40 at Heaton parkrun, followed by Iain Harris (39:43) and Charles Whalley (44:31).

Sheila Jones was the third lady at Canons Park in 24:05 and results from other parkruns were: Peter Hunter – Burnley (21:53), Cheryl Gallagher – Keswick (36:04) and Peel – Mike Kontowtt (20:29).