Stratford AC's Bexson ends her long road to recovery

STRATFORD AC runner Emma Bexon proved a remarkable return to fitness with an excellent performance in the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon, just months after back surgery.

Less than 12 months ago, she was still in hospital in Coventry after an operation. She spent several months in hospital, confined to lying on her back, and then had to wear a body brace for a lengthy period of time.

But Bexon has showed she is made of stern stuff, competing in park runs, triathlons, cross country races, track and field events and then the Marlow half-marathon.

Then last weekend she took on the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon, a unique multi-terrain marathon in aid of the RNLI.

It was her first road marathon since the London Marathon in 2009 but amazingly she bettered that time to finish in a superb three hours 20 mins 58 secs.

She finished 69th out of 1,014 finishers, was sixth woman to finish and third in her age group, a mere 15 seconds off being second.

Bexon said it was a great race but it was tough having to change terrain frequently as well as being challenging running on the beach, especially at 21 miles when her legs were tired.

There was disappointment, though, for Stratford clubmate Lesley Kirk. Despite having come down with a nasty cold a few days before, she was determined to start and managed to complete half the race before sensibly deciding to drop out.