MARK Limbert of Graham Hill Road, Towcester, completed the marathon in four hours 20 minutes and raised nearly £3,500 for the British Stammering Association.
Out of the 35,000 runners who took part, the 42-year-old technical director of an optics company near Bicester, was runner number 13,502 across the finishing line, outside Buckingham Palace. His achievement is even more impressive as he has never taken part in a marathon before and Sunday was his first attempt at the full distance.
Mr Limbert has had a stammer since the age of five, and the money he raised for the BSA will go towards the cost of speech therapy for pre-school children.

CROSSING the finish line was extra special for 35-year-old Graeme Holmes, of Brackley, after he was prevented from running last year's marathon following a motobike accident in which he lost the use of his right arm. He said: "It was the last six miles that were the hardest. You've run out of body fuel by that stage and it's just a case of trying to keep going."
Mr Holmes, who raised £1500 for The Samaritans, said a specially-adapted sling strapping his arm to his body worked well, resulting very little discomfort. By Wednesday he even felt fit enough to go
running again and is already hoping to raise money for the Warks and Northants Air Ambulance in next year's marathon.

BUCKINGHAM GP Dr Carol Mathews was amazed by the carnival atmosphere as she successfully completed her first London Marathon.
She passed Masai warriors and was trailed by a giant Cornish pasty along the 26-mile route, finishing in a time of four hours and 41 minutes. "It's like a 26-mile street party," said Dr Mathews, who works at North End Surgery.
Dr Mathews, who raised £1,500 in pledges for the cerebral palsy charity Scope, thanked all her supporters and sponsors.

NORTH Marston marathon runner Sarah Thompson, 20, is jubilant after successfully raising her target of £1,400 for the deaf and blind people's charity Sense. The first-time marathon runner, a student at Bournemouth University, crossed the line in a time of four hours and 53 minutes.
She said: "I got overtaken by a man in a rhino costume, but I managed to track him down and overtook him before the end. I wasn't going to be beaten by a rhino."

A SERIAL charity fundraiser from Silverstone completed his first London Marathon on Sunday.
Colin Bycroft, 50, of Frog Hall, completed the 26 mile course in 5hrs 15mins. Mr Bycroft raised around £2,500 for the Parkinson's Disease Society and Cancer Research UK.
Mr Bycroft said he completed the marathon in a slower time than he wanted, but he was pleased it was all over.

A GROUP of four runners from Bicester are nursing aching limbs after completing the London Marathon together.
Lyn Owen, Leanne Millar, John Stocker and Debbie Curtis took part in the marathon for CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA, raising more than £4,000 for the charity. They were inspired to take part by 14-year-old leukaemia sufferer Matthew Woolf-Holder, pictured with them, left.
Mr Stocker and Mrs Millar completed the course in 4hrs 35mins, while Mrs Owen and Mrs Curtis took 5hrs 8mins to finish the marathon. Mrs Owen said: "It was what we expected. I hoped to complete it in under five hours, but my knee was just too sore."

Peter Wrigley, 44, from Padbury, was devastated at having to pull out of the London Marathon due to illness.
Mr Wrigley lost 6lb in the run-up to the marathon after being hit by a virus, and did not feel it safe to continue."But I didn't want to come out and leave the charity in the lurch, so I'm doing the South Downs Marathon in June," said the 44-year-old father-of-four. Mr Wrigley, from Gore Lodge, has also secured a place in the 2009 London Marathon. His nominated charity, the Padbury-based childhood brain tumour charity Ali's Dream, will benefit from both runs.

ROY Anderson, 56, from Kingfisher Road in Buckingham, completed his first-ever London Marathon in just over four hours and 56 minutes.
Mr Anderson raised £900 for the Queen Square Brain Bank in London, which aids research into human neurodegenerative diseases.He said he feels fine after his run, barring a few minor aches and pains."The crowd was marvellous and it was an amazing experience," said Mr Anderson.

SEASONED marathon runner John Nelson, 50, improved his time yet again at Sunday's London Marathon.
The firefighter, from Kings End, Bicester, completed his third marathon with a time of 3hrs 44mins and raising £2,000 for CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA. He said: "It was great – no trouble at all. I did it 40 minutes quicker than last year as I got in a lot more training in this year and found it a lot easier."

STUART Branch, 37, of Whittlebury Road, Silverstone was the 5,226th person across the finish line in a time of three hours, 33 minutes, raising £1,600 for CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA. (Donations can be made at www.bmycharity.com/stuartbranch)
He said: "The first hour it was bright and sunny, the next few hours it was pretty heavy rain. And not a pleasant drizzle to keep you cool and refreshed, it really did bucket it down for an hour or so."
"But London is just a fantastic place especially with the crowds lining the route shouting encouragement."
Mr Branch was cheered on by his seven-year-old twin daughters Megan and Sarah and by his wife Christine, 43.

AT his first attempt at the full distance 18-year-old Stewart Jennings, 18, of Champion Court in Brackley finished in five hours, two minutes and raised £1,700 for the CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA. running with the Mr Men and Little Miss team.
He said: "With everyone cheering you on and all the London landmarks the atmosphere was brilliant."

CAROLE Henry, a 37-year-old mum-of-three from Moorhen Way in Buckingham, said she was amazed to complete her first London Marathon in a time of four hours and 45 minutes. She raised just over £1,120 in sponsorship pledges for the Dreams Come True charity, which takes terminally ill children on holiday.

BICESTER army officer Chloe Russell, 26, ran her first London marathon in memory of her boyfriend James Cowan, 26, who died last year. Mr Cowan had Type 1 diabetes and died of severe hypoglycaemia – where a person's blood glucose level falls too low.
Lieutenant Russell, who is in the 23 Pioneer regiment at St David's Barracks, completed the race in four hours and 32 minutes, and has so far raised £2272 for Diabetes UK.
Lt Russell said: "I was a bit emotional at the end as James and I had planned to do the marathon together, but it felt good to complete the challenge."

NICK Tanner, of Glebe Drive, Brackley, who works for Buckingham firm Racelogic, completed the London Marathon in 4hrs 26mins and raised £1,250 in aid of the British Heart Foundation and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Mr Tanner said: "It was easier than I thought it would be. My time was slower than I hoped and I had trouble getting through the crowds, but it was a fantastic day with a wonderful atmosphere."