AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Hyvon Ngetich crawled across the finish line of the Austin Marathon and still managed to win third place after collapsing with less than mile to go.
She was leading the women in the Austin Marathon until around mile 23, but her body began to give out and with less than a mile to go. Rather than giving up and waiting for assistance, Ngetich began to crawl on all fours to the finish line.
She refused any help from the race aides who ran alongside her and won third in the women's category.
"Running, always you have to keep going, going," said Ngetich.
"You ran the bravest race and crawled the bravest crawl I have ever seen in my life. You have earned much honor, and I am going to adjust your prize money, so you get the same prize money you would have gotten if you were second," race director John Conley told her.
Conley said he had never seen anything like Ngetich's performance in his 43 years in running.
Ngetich hopes to return to win the 2016 Austin Marathon. Her personal best is 2:34:42.
