TORONTO – An exhausted elite runner finished the 2015 Austin Marathon and Half Marathon in Texas on Sunday, crawling on her hands and knees across the finish line.
Hyvon Ngetich of Kenya was leading the pack of runners for most of the race but her body gave out about 2 km from the finish line.
“The last two or three kilometres, I don’t remember,” Ngetich told CBS. “The finish line…I have no idea.”
With less than 100 yards to go, the marathoner collapsed and began to crawl on all fours towards the finish line.
Volunteers and medical staff rushed to her aid, bringing a wheelchair with them which Ngetich refused to use.
“She’s going to make it, she is going to do it!” the race announcer was heard saying as the crowd cheered Ngetich on.
And she did. The 29-year-old crawled across the finish line, coming in third with a time of 3:04:02.
“You ran the bravest race and crawled the bravest crawl I have ever seen in my life,” race director John Conley told Ngetich.
According to CBS, Conley bumped up the runner’s third place cash prize.
“I’ve never heard our crowds that loud cheering for an athlete like that,” he said. “She’s the defining image of that weekend for us.”
So, why didn’t Ngetich give up?
“Running always, you have to keep going, going,” she said. “You need to die running.”
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