LAST week’s pages of the Examiner were illuminated by the preparations of Huddersfield people for yesterday’s London Marathon.

Julie Sykes – who vowed never to do the run again – was one them. Another was Pat Ainsworth.

At the age of 62 she was preparing to take part in her 11th London Marathon and had been training by doing 18 to 20-mile runs around Emley Moor for the past three months.

They were but two of more than 46,000 people who were running the 2008 Flora London Marathon.

Over the past few months it was a challenge they had embraced. From that first step posting the application form, they invested both emotionally and physically into training and fundraising.

All of them were raising money for good causes of their choice and the thought of that saw them to the finishing line.

Once the marathon was over and they flaunted that competitor’s medal, they had achieved far more than 26.2 miles.