THE MONMOUTH woman, who until this year had never run four miles, proudly completed the London Marathon at the weekend - although she confesses she had to 'powerwalk' rather than run most of the course. Helen Fergusson-Kelly, 42, won a competition in The Times earlier this year to run alongside multiple Olympic gold medal winner Matthew Pincent in the newspaper's celebrity team.

And the doughty athlete from The Hendre trotted her way round the 26.2 mile course on Sunday in a time of 5 hours 17 minutes; actually running three miles and speed-walking the last 23 with an injured knee.

Aching, but proud, she said this week: "I had a problem with my knee in the last couple of weeks so was on lots of painkillers before the race. At times it was exceedingly painful and I thought about stopping but the crowds really keep you going.

"Then the painkillers kicked in and it was like: The world is out there - somewhere!"

Helen said that as a member of the celebrity team she was able to line up alongside the likes of other former Olympic medallists such as Lord Sebastian Coe and Sally Gunnell.

She added: "Gordon Ramsey wished me luck at the start, which was nice. And I passed the model Sophie Anderton, who really wasn't doing much running.

"But later on, when I was hurting, perhaps the defining moment was being passed by a man dressed as a sausage.

"My husband had told me not to get overtaken by any rhinos, but a sausage was probably worse!"

Running on behalf of the Stroke Association, Helen has so far raised over £1,100. Further donations can be made online at http://www.justgiving.com/ helen_fergusson-kelly