ILLNESS, injury and exhaustion were all overcome by local runners on Sunday, to raise thousands of pounds for charity by taking part in the London marathon.
Sue Farley from College Hill, Haslemere, was part of TV presenter Des Lynam's "Brain and Spine Foundation" team and has collected £5,000 for the charity.
A retired ballet teacher, this was the second time Sue has run the marathon, managing to knock 20 minutes off her previous time of six hours.
"I was pleased, and the main thing was that I ran the whole way," she said. "I would just like to give an enormous thank you to everyone who supported me."
Sue said that the run had a wonderful atmosphere. "An elderley woman I didn't know from Adam came up to me and asked what charity I was running for," she said. "When I told her, she said 'here you go' and stuffed a packet full of 20 and 50p coins into my hand - wonderful."
But she won't be doing it again.
"No, this old body of mine has had enough," she said. "Ten kilometres I can do, but 26 miles is not for me!"
Despite illness in the last weeks of training, Mark Harris was able to complete the course in five hours and 48 minutes.
His father Malcolm Harris, from Malcolm's Travel in Haslemere, said: "At the 16-mile mark he really felt like giving up as his legs seized up, but the thought of £1,250 sponsorship for children with leukaemia kept him going."
He too swore never to do it again.
Sam Grey, from Grayshott, raised around £200 for the NSPCC and managed to finish the course, despite sustaining an injury at the halfway point.
"I finished in just under seven hours, because at 14 miles my knee gave in and I had to walk the rest of the way."
However, Sam didn't rule out the possibility of running the race again.
She said: "A friend of mine said that she wanted to do it next year, so I might do it for charity."
Nick Helyer, from Liphook, raised more than £400 for Cancer Research, finishing in three hours and 51 minutes.
"I ran the marathon at an easier pace last year, and enjoyed it - so I thought I'd try to make it in under four hours this year," said Nicky. "Running for Cancer Research was important to me as I lost my mother-in-law to stomach and bowel cancer last year, and my dad is suffer from prostate cancer, but is being treated successfully."
Chris Farmer is a former Royal Marine who now works for the British Red Cross Surrey branch. A runner all his life, this was the first time Chris had attempted the London marathon.
"It was an excellent day," he said. "I finished in four hours and 34 minutes and raised £2,500 for the Red Cross."
However, despite a career in the services, Chris found the event tough going. "The first 12 to 15 miles I really enjoyed, then bits and pieces started to ache," he said. "At 22 miles I wondered 'why am I doing this?' but the closer you get to the finish, the louder the crowd gets and they really spur you on."
Asked if he would take part again, Chris said that he was proud of his achievement but needed time to recover.
"If you asked me now, I'd say no; if you asked me next week I might say maybe; if you asked me in three months, I'll say 'why not?'"
Other local runners taking part in the London Marathon were Dr Lance Cavannagh, a GP from Grayshott, raising money for the Whizz Kidz charity and Robert Ames who was running for First Base, the Waverley homeless charity.