A RUNNER from East Yorkshire has taken part in the Amsterdam Marathon in memory of her brother.

Sarah Hargreaves, Pocklington, is an e-learning developer at York College and took on the 26.2 mile challenge in tribute to her older brother Simon, who was 38 when he died from an aggressive form of cancer in 1999.

This was 52-year-old Sarah's fifth marathon, and she crossed the finish line in four hours and 23 minutes, raising £645 for Yorkshire Cancer Research.

She said: "I was amazed by my Amsterdam time as my normally tough training regime was constantly interrupted over the year. I seriously thought I wouldn’t get round, but it’s incredible what you can do when you have no expectations.

"I decided to take part in the marathon after completing the city’s half marathon a few times. I love Amsterdam and Dutch people are just fab. I also knew I wanted to do a flat marathon and I had high hopes of a sub-four hour personal best before my training went all wrong."

Sarah, who has been running for about 10 years, said her family was traumatised further after Simon's death when their mother Pauline was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma five years ago, but after a long illness, she recovered.

She said: "I think the toughest thing I had to witness since Simon’s death was to see my mum and dad say goodbye to each other when doctors didn’t think she’d make it through the night. It was utterly heart breaking to witness. But she’s made of stern stuff, and she made it through the night and is still with us.

"Simon was an amazing person – funny, very physically fit and loved sport. Even though he died 15 years ago, I will always fundraise in his memory, and I’m so please I got round Amsterdam as it would have been his 54th birthday on that day."

Sarah is collecting for Yorkshire Cancer Research in memory of Simon at justgiving.com/for-simes-2014/