A paralysed Leicestershire woman has become the first person to complete a marathon in a “bionic” suit.
The £43,000 device allows Claire Lomas to walk by detecting shifts in her balance.
Mrs Lomas, from Eye Kettleby near Melton Mowbray, was paralysed from the chest down when she broke her back and neck in a horse-riding accident in 2007.
The 32-year-old crossed the finish line at 12:50 BST – 26 days after starting the race with 36,000 other people.
She was met by cheering onlookers and a Pearly King and Queen as she walked beneath an arch of red balloons.
So far she has raised about £80,000 for Spinal Research, a charity which funds medical research around the world to develop treatments for paralysis caused by a broken back or neck.
Mrs Lomas has walked around two miles a day, accompanied by her husband Dan, mother Joyce and 13-month-old daughter Maisie.
Organisers have been criticised for insisting that Mrs Lomas would not appear in the official results or receive a medal when she finishes, as rules state competitors must complete the course on the same day.
She broke her neck, back and ribs and punctured a lung when her horse threw her off as she took part in the Osberton Horse Trials in Nottinghamshire.
A London Marathon spokeswoman said the charity was contacted before the race to inform them of the policy on late finishers.
She added it was for practical reasons, as the timing system had been dismantled and there was no way of verifying that the competitor had finished.
Sometimes the ‘jobsworths’ make my blood boil. She’s hardly sneaked in unnoticed.
Still, she has a box full of medals now thanks to the kindhearted runners who did complete the marathon on the day giving up theirs and I understand she will get a trophy for her effort.
By: Comet - 9th May 2012 at 11:13
She deserves a medal.
By: silver fox - 8th May 2012 at 21:38
Good to see a positive story amidst all the doom and gloom, equally good on all those who handed over their hard earned medals to someone they deemed even more deserving.
I understand what the organisers are saying, but sounds like a very lame excuse to me, but at least they are going to produce a trophy for a courageous lady.
By: Lincoln 7 - 8th May 2012 at 16:16
If you are a competitor who is disabled, as this lady was, and she was allowed to “Race”, then I fail to see why the organisers should “Move the goalposts” to suit themselves.as they, unless they are as thick as a plank, realise the extent of her abilities would certainly take a damned site more time for her to finish than an able bodied competitor. Give her TWO medals, One for having the guts to race, and one for finishing, and hats off to the competitor/s who gave their medal to her.
I hope that this is a lesson to the organisers to take into consideration next year. Just a simple question on the application form, perhaps worded like “Are you disabled?. and to what extent, and your expected ETA to complete the course”. They can’t exclude disabled persons under the disability discrimination act.
I hope more folks like her have a go next year, and the organisers show a bit more compassion, and put themselves into the disabled persons shoes.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: Bob - 8th May 2012 at 15:07
Last year Eddie Kidd finished the marathon course 43 days after setting out on the 26 mile route. I believe he got a medal.
Claire Lomas stated the medal wasn’t important – it would still have been nice to think that the London Marathon organisers could have put one aside for her all the same…
By: EGTC - 8th May 2012 at 14:39
It did annoy me how they have been towards her with this ‘can’t verify that she had finished’ rubbish. It’s been well publicised of late and her progress has been shown on the news regularly.
She will get a trophy? Atleast thats something 🙂 She deserves it.
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May 8, 2012 at 1:42 pm