Tough day at marathon but Shelly Woods is so pleased she's racing again

Woods, 34, was contesting the capital showpiece for the first time in four years but did not finish the women’s wheelchair race which had a shock winner in the Netherlands’ Nikita den Boer.

It was a London Marathon like no other, with only elite athletes on a course which consisted of 19 laps around the perimeter of St James’s Park but did finish on The Mall as usual.

Speaking to Athletics Weekly ahead of the race, Woods said: “I saw the lockdown coming and bought some adjustable dumb-bells. Everyone was struggling to get equipment but I was really lucky.”

“The hardest thing for me was having all the nurseries shut. I have a little boy who is three years old, so I struggled with looking after him and getting all my training done.

“I’m really pleased with the decision to come back and race. I don’t have too much pressure on myself and I want to see what level I can get back to.

“I had some races last year which acted as stepping stones and over the winter I did some good training.

“I took a step back during the lockdown and did training a little bit differently, addressing a few things that we might not have been able to do if we were just focusing on that next race. We tried to make the best of a bad situation.”

Woods, a triple Paralympic medallist in the T54 category for athletes with spinal injuries, returned to competitive racing last year, having been away from the sport for three years to raise her first child, Leo.

A victorious comeback in the Great Manchester Run and the Vitality 10,000m in London was followed by second place at the Great North Run on Tyneside, an event Shelly has won seven times.

Stepping back up to her favourite marathon distance, the Blackpool Wyre and Fylde Athletics Club ace competed at Berlin and New York in the autumn, then finished second in Singapore last December.

Woods was a winner again at the Vitality Big Half in London on March 1, which proved to be her last race before yesterday’s return to the capital.

The London Marathon was originally scheduled for April and was to have incorporated World Para Athletics Marathon World Cup, in which Woods was selected for the Great Britain and Ireland team.

It would have been the first time she had represented her country since the European Championships of 2014.

Woods was to have teamed up with David Weir, who finished second to Canadian Brent Lakatos in the men’s wheelchair event in London yesterday.

In the women’s wheelchair race, the Swiss Manuela Schar suffered a shock defeat to den Boer, ending her run of nine successive major marathon wins.

The Dutchwoman pulled away with two laps remaining as Schar faded badly.

Another shock saw Eliud Kipchoge’s reign as the king of the London Marathon ended by Shura Kitata.

In a stunning upset Kipchoge, who had won all of his previous four London Marathons and had not lost over the distance in seven years, fell away in the closing miles to finish eighth.

Brigid Kosgei defended her women’s title,comfortably winning the duel with her fellow Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich.