Leicester Marathon runners complete distance despite cancelled race

Runners who were due to take part in a cancelled marathon have decided to complete the miles anyway.

Sunday's Leicester Marathon and half marathon was cancelled after severe flooding along the route.

Many of the 4,000 participants have decided to run an alternative route and a team of firefighters are running around a football stadium.

Race organisers said anyone who proved they had completed the distance could still get a finisher's medal.

Four Leicestershire firefighters ran 63 laps in their full uniform and breathing apparatus around Leicester City's King Power Stadium to make up their half marathon distance.

"We don't want to let our donors down and obviously we have trained so hard for it we didn't want to just not do the run," said Joe Robinson.

They have raised £2,500 for the Vichai Foundation, in memory of the club's former chairman, and The Fire Fighters Charity.

Three friends from the Parklands Ladies Running Club, who are training for the London Marathon, also completed a half marathon.

They set off from Foxton Locks on Saturday and took a "lovely route" along the canal to Market Harborough before returning to the start.

"We had quite a lot of support and people saying 'come on girls', because we had our numbers on," said Ms Bradshaw.

"I think they [the race organisers] made the right decision - if people were falling over and injuring themselves people would have said they shouldn't have run it."

Organisers said after days of heavy rain and "extreme flooding" parts of the route were unsafe, particularly in Watermead Park and nearby villages.

Race director Andrew Ward said the response from people had been "incredible".

"I wouldn't advise anyone to run the route itself because it's not safe," he said.

"But if people want to run the distance elsewhere, where there are no floods, then they are more than welcome."

He said runners could email them with a record of their distance to get the medal they would have received at the finish line.

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].