AN OKEHAMPTON doctor bravely battled on to complete his second London Marathon this Sunday (April 13) despite picking up an injury in the last quarter of the race.
Dr Nick Woodall of Okehampton Medical Centre twisted his knee around the 20-mile mark and had to walk for parts of the last six miles, meaning he was a long way off his target time of 3 hours and 40 minutes.
However, Nick said he had still enjoyed taking part in the marathon. ?It was a superb day, the crowds were marvellous. The sheer sense of goodwill that the crowd puts out. They have been there for hours but they still cheer everyone on.?
Nick eventually finished in a time of 4 hours and 22 minutes. ?There was despair going through my mind at 22-miles, but then you come to the Houses of Parliament and you know you are almost there.
?The sense of exhilaration as you cross the finishing line is indescribable and I was so pleased to be a part of it.?
Nick said he had been training in the hope of recording a time of 3 hours and 40 minutes but his strategy of running the second half of the race faster than the first half hadn?t worked because of the vast number of people and the difficulty of overtaking other runners.
The lesson which Nick said he would take away from the race was not to measure the experience solely by the finishing time. ?You set yourself a time, but if you don?t make it, it doesn?t matter. It really is the taking part that counts.?
The doctor said he had raised around £600 for the British Heart Foundation although sponsorship money was still coming in. He wanted to say particular thanks to the sponsorship form he received which had been filled out in the name of a cocker spaniel, after Nick appeared in the Times last month with his dog Frodo.
Nick said despite his injury and the heat on the day, he still felt he might run other marathons in the future. ?It?s such a buzz,? he said. Nick said he might enter a marathon with a smaller field next time as this would increase his chances of recording a faster time.