They say a picture speaks a thousand words. And that couldn't have been more true for one image from the London Marathon at the weekend. The true spirit of the 26.2-mile race was incapsulated in the shot of Ian Bamford running across the finishing line while supporting fellow competitor Steve McLelland, who had sustained an injury to his hip.
Mr Bamford, who took part in the event for a 13th time, and Mr McLelland, who took part in the famous London challenge for a 27th consecutive time, are close friends who are both in the same Swansea running club – 3M Gorseinon Road Runners. They both set off at different start times, Mr McLelland slightly ahead, but arranged to meet at Cutty Sark, just after the 10k mark, so they could complete the marathon together.
Mr Bamford, a Tata Steel worker originally from Gorseinon now living in Bynea, took part in the event dressed in a fairy fancy dress costume picked out by daughter. He said: "Steve started to struggle. We were fine up to about 15 miles but then the last couple of miles he was having issues with continually leaning to the left – he was having a few issues with his hip. Whenever we run I've always run to his right-hand side but I moved to the left-hand side here to hold him up. For the last two miles he was struggling quite a lot but I was just so pleased I could be there to help him and support his weight a bit.
