London Marathon ambition fulfilled

DONE it! Autistic pupil James Beardwell and St Mary's School swimming pool coordinator Dean Baker completed Sunday's London Marathon together.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Apr 2002, 15:41 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 19:47 BST

Dean said this week: "The feeling of elation was incredible."

Running the marathon was a dream fulfilled for James, 18, who attends the special needs school in Wrestwood Road.

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Dean, 39, of Roundacres Way, Pebsham, agreed to run with James to provide the support and back-up he required. He said: "After months of hard work training, James and I finally got to the Marathon start line at 9.15 on Sunday morning.

"The atmosphere was incredible and the organisations mind-blowing. We changed into our running kit and placed our bags on to the lorry marked with our numbers so that we could collect them at the end.

"Then we had to find our starting bay. This is based on your estimated finish time. It was incredible to stand in such a large crowd. Before the race we observed a minute's silence for the Queen Mother and then it was time for the start.

"The gun fired and we started walking forwards. We actually took about 20 minutes to cross the start line.

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"The support that we received on the route was fantastic and helped to make the experience even better than I expected. We reached the half-way point at 2hrs 16mins - humbling to realise that the top runners were FINISHING in this time. They must be so fit and so strong.

"The crowds were huge as we approached the Houses of Parliament. We saw some faces we recognised and got huge amounts of support from everyone. As we got closer to the finishing line we realised that we were going to finish, that the dream was going to come true...

"As the line came into view we started to run faster and crossed the line together in 5h7.5m

"The feeling of elation was incredible. All the work was finally over and the celebration could start. We collected our medals and finishers' packs and made our way to the repatriation area to meet my wife, Julie, daughter Hannah, five, and members of the 6th form at St Mary's.

"James and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us and helped us to realise a dream as well as raising money for the National Autistic Society, a very worthy cause."