John Terry thanks runner dressed as a SHOE for kind gesture during London Marathon

John Terry has thanked another London Marathon participant who was dressed a shoe for helping him during a moment of struggle. legend Terry took just over five hours to complete the race on an energy-sapping day during which race organisers pleaded with the masses to slow down because of unusually high temperatures.

Terry, who raised more than £40,000 for the Rays of Sunshine Children's Charity and ran with former team-mate Jody Morris, crossed the finish line on The Mall in a time of 5:00:43 - 10 seconds behind former midfielder Jack Wilshere. And Terry, in a post on , praised fellow runner Karl Fitzpatrick from Jersey for "some great words of encouragement" and handing him a drink.

Fitzpatrick was dressed in a shoe costume to raise money for Jersey Hospice and Terry wrote: "Legs are a little stiff and sore this morning, that is by far the TOUGHEST thing I have EVER done and this morning I have so much respect for everyone who run the marathon yesterday.

"Also a big shout out to the guy dressed as a shoe, who overtook me when I was struggling, yes dressed as a shoe and overtook me, slowed down and gave me some great words of encouragement and gave me some sweets and gels, he then carried on running, about 2 minutes later he come running back towards me with a bottle of coke, Thank you mate."

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Danny Mills was the fastest ex-footballer, posting a time of 3:16:07, with marathon veteran Gary Rowett running 3:38:38. Another former Chelsea player, Steve Sidwell, clocked a 4:50:28, in his first marathon, while ex-Italy centre back Leonardo Bonucci ran 5:02:09.

Sunday’s event set the record for the largest number of finishers in a marathon with a total of 56,640 beating 55,646 set by the New York City marathon last November.

Many miles ahead of the former footballers, Sebastian Sawe dominated the men’s elite race with a blistering burst just before the 20-mile mark that blew apart the deepest field ever assembled.

And while suboptimally warm conditions had race chiefs warning the masses to slow down, Tigst Assefa ran a women’s-only record as Eilish McColgan came home top Brit in a solid debut. Sawe, making only his second trip over the distance, produced a split of 13:56 between 30 and 35km to pull away from a fading pack that included greatest of all time Eliud Kipchoge and Olympic champ Tamirat Tola.

And he maintained that effort all the way to the Mall for a winning time of 2:02:27, ahead of debutant Jacob Kiplimo and 2024 winner Alex Mutiso.

By that stage Assefa, who finished second last year before taking Olympic silver in Paris, had already caught her breath. The Ethiopian made her move at less than halfway and said after that the 20c temperatures suited her down to the ground as he crossed the line in 2:15.50. Assefa did, however, slow in the closing miles as the heat picked up.

McColgan, meanwhile, achieved her maiden goal of beating mum Liz’s personal best – taking more than two minutes off the 1996 champion’s time with a creditable 2:24:25.

But after finishing eighth overall, the Scot admitted: “There was a big gap between us and the leading elites. I didn't feel it today, I got to halfway and then I panicked a bit, so I came off my pace and found myself running on my own. I’m proud of myself though to mentally keep going and I'll be heading for another major at the end of this year.”

Mahamed Mahamed ran 2:08:52 to take the domestic bragging rights, and eighth overall, in the men’s race while triathlon star Alex Yee finished 14th in 2:11:08 in his experimental outing. “Good race but very tough,” Yee said. “I struggled in the last three miles, which I found really hard. I think I went out too hard at the start.”

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