A WOMAN has completed a marathon series of challenges - with a loved one there in spirit to see her over the line.
Gabriella Waller has finished the sixth and final event in the World Marathon Majors Series, which sees those who accomplish it complete six of the most renowned runs internationally.
Those are the London, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and New York marathons.
After taking on the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, the Andover resident has now completed the set.
The 30-year-old, who works as a rail operator at Basingstoke Railway Station, said: “It was very hard work, and while I crossed the finish line in pain, it was absolutely worth it and it feels great to have completed it all.”
The Boston race holds special significance for Gabriella, not just as it was the final race for her to complete the series, but it was the first she had to complete without her husband Luke.
Luke, who died unexpectedly on April 1, had been alongside her since the first of the marathons.
Gabriella said: “I’d done five of the marathons with him being there supporting me. I looked forward to seeing him at various points in the race cheering me on. It was emotionally exhausting, completing it without him, but I had support from my friends and family on Facebook.
“We had started together, and so I had to finish the challenge.”
Hungarian national Gabriella’s first marathon was London, in 2017, which was originally going to be her only one, before she caught the running bug.
Gabriella added: “After completing that one, I saw that there were people receiving more than one medal, and that’s how I found out about the World Marathon Majors.
“From there, what I thought would be one ended up becoming six.”
Gabriella is the seventh Hungarian to accomplish the feat, and only the second Hungarian woman to have managed the task.
She has run for a variety of charities, including those helping animals, Prostate Cancer UK and MACS UK, for children born with no eyes or underdeveloped eyes
The next event for Gabriella’s is the London Marathon, and then an Iron Man in Bolton in July.
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