Jayne Hantman’s ambition was to complete the marathon “before the dustcarts arrive to clear up, they pack all the barriers away and the man in the iron diving suit finishes”.
In reality, she had to quit after 20 miles. But it was no mean effort given that she had only recently received the green light to take part after suffering a heart attack.
Mrs Hantman was among the team supporting mental health charity Jami, which “has always been there for the Hantman family, who as carers, have received excellent support and strategies whenever we experienced a crisis”, she explained.
“As someone who dislikes any physical activity, I am not sure how I was talked into doing the marathon but I decided to rope in my sister-in-law Juliette [Morrison] too. Why should I suffer alone?
“We started with very gentle training but after just three days I had the heart attack. I lost all confidence in my ability to ever walk any distance again. However, one stent and lots of meds later, I was given the all clear to do the marathon.”
Having accompanied her sister-in-law, Mrs Morrison went on to finish in 7:46.
Other Jami participants were Jamie Hutchinson (3:35), Daniel Raphael (4:49), Karolina Kotelesova (4:23) and Jamie Solomon (5:36) and their combined sponsorship has topped £13,000.