A granddad in a bird costume completed the London Marathon – but he was disappointed to be overtaken by a rhino and an inflatable taxi in the final straight! 

Dale Lyons completed his “31st” London Marathon in five hours 12 minutes, raising money along the way to help reintroduce the Great Bustard back to Britain. 

The 68-year-old from Smithy Lane, in Church Lawford, said: “I don’t think I ate enough because I had nothing more to give at the end and the final indignity was at 24 miles out when someone dressed as a rhino overtook me.  It got worse when an inflatable taxi went past me shortly after.” 

Nevertheless, his efforts still raised £600 to help fund a breeding programme in Wiltshire for the Great Bustard – one of the world’s largest flying birds.  Weighting at 40lb, and with a 7ft wingspan, the birds had been hunted to extinction in the UK by the mid-19^th century. 

Dale had already been pledged £450 before the race and was given a further £150 by generous people on the route. 

He said: “It was the best supported marathon I have every been in.  They came out in droves. 

“Normally when you get to the Isle of Dogs you get some gaps in the crowds, but this year there weren’t any.” 

It was Dale’s 31^st London Marathon in 25 years, having run it twice and three times in previous years. 

Other local runners included a nurse at Rugby’s St Cross Hospital who raised more than £2,000 for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young).

Sue Barnard, who completed it in four hours 54 minutes, said she had been “overwhelmed” at the response. 

Stephen Jefferies, aged 30, from Ophelia Drive, Warwick, finished the race in four hours seven minutes, raising £400 for the British Heart Foundation, as a tribute to his father who had suffered two heart attacks.