A FAIRFORD woman completed the London Marathon in just over four hours on Sunday, raising almost £3,000 for an endangered animal charity.

Bettina Harvey, 50, ran the 26-mile annual marathon for the first time, reaching the finishing line in four hours and two minutes.

She said: “The marathon was amazing, the crowds incredible and without which I don’t think I would have finished, especially at the last four miles. I literally didn’t stop until I crossed the finish line as I knew if I did I probably wouldn’t be able to start again.

“My time was 4.02, which was great but quite annoying as 3.59 would have been much better,” she added.

Bettina has been helping raise awareness and funds for Tusk, a UK-based charity who help to protect threatened wildlife, such as elephants and rhinos, in Africa, alongside 30 other runners fundraising for the organisation, who together raised £40,000.

Bettina had started her training in January, and “basically lived in lycra” for several weeks, running in all weathers and suffering damage to her Achilles and a calf muscle tear. The latter of which caused her some problems on Sunday.

“I had some physio as my calf is quite bad and now have to rest up for the next two weeks, but to be honest I don’t think I would want to do anything else anyway,” she said.

When asked why she has chosen to raise money for Tusk, she said: “I’ve been to Kenya and seen what happens when elephants get poached. It’s horrible.”

She said without the work of the charity “we wouldn’t have elephants wandering around in the wild.”

Hector & Queen, the retail business that Ms Harvey runs from premises in Waterloo Lane in Fairford, has also been selling special organic wool slippers, shaped like various animals, for the past 18 months with 20 per cent of the profits going to Tusk.

You can sponsor Bettina by clicking here.