A BELFAST man is being praised for his unselfish actions at Sunday’s London Marathon.
40-year-old Mark Carey stopped his race short and came to the aid of a woman crippled with heat exhaustion three miles from the end of the 26.2-mile event.
With the help of another runner, running coach Mark took the woman by the arm and led her across the finish line.
Sunday’s event took place in sweltering 24 degrees temperatures.
Mr Carey has been hailed as a hero after giving up his last few miles to help the 63-year-old woman complete the race.
Mark, however, maintained his humility and described the situation as “just one of those things”.
He told the Belfast Telegraph: “There’s a part of the course at 23 miles where you go through a long underground tunnel and as I was going through there I spotted Linda who was running sidewards at that stage.
“It was a matter of taking her under my arm. It was me and another man from England who helped and we got her over the line.
“At first I don’t think she even knew we were helping her she was that far gone but we gave her fluid and she wore my cap.
“We kept reassuring her and she took small steps at a slow pace until the end.
“There were a few times where we had to stop to reassess her and she had to take fluid.
“She was a remarkable lady – she was a 63-year-old from Cheshire and that was her third marathon.
“We had to put her on the ground when we all finished.”
Mark, a running coach from Belfast Coolers helped carry the runner to a St John’s medical tent where she was treated for up to 40 minutes for heat exhaustion.
He added: “We made contact with her husband and walked to her family to make sure she was okay and in safe hands. He appreciated it. It was one of those things. For me, it was only a matter of getting her to the end. She wanted to finish and my race was already gone.
“I was more than happy to help. I couldn’t go by without helping her.”
Sunday was Mark’s 21st marathon and he described it as his “toughest”.
