Nicknamed the “bionic woman” -- in reference to the mechanical suit that allows her to move her paralyzed legs -- 32-year-old Claire Lomas finally crossed the finish line of London Marathon on Tuesday after 16 days, according to local news reports.

“I’m over the moon,” tearful but beaming Lomas said. “There were times when I questioned whether I would make it … but once I started I just took each day as it came.

Her remarkable accomplishment raised more than 90,000 pounds ($145,000) for spinal research.

Lomas said her own experience of spinal injury shook her life. The former chiropractor had been paralyzed from chest-down after being thrown off a horse five years ago.

“There’s a lot to get used to because spinal injuries are so sudden. Everything changes, and you feel like every door’s been slammed in your face,” Lomas said.

However, Lomas said while she was in the hospital, she saw a lot of people who were worse off than her. This motivated her to enter the race.

Despite the herculean feat, Lomas will not receive a medal or have her record recognized because the marathon committee requires competitors to finish the course in the same day.

But more than a dozen fellow racers who thought differently donated their own medals to Lomas.

“She has epitomized what I thought the London Marathon was all about,” said Jacqui Rose, who gave Lomas her medal.

“That medal, when you have completed it and gone through all the pain of it, symbolizes that achievement of what you have gone out of your way to do for charity,” she added.

“For her not to have got one ridicules what the marathon was all about.”



By Yoon Min-sik

(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)