Around 45,000 runners will be taking part in the virtual London Marathon on Sunday – including one of our own!

With coronavirus restrictions affecting the usual staging of the mass participation race in the nation’s capital, Hannah Gardner will be completing the 26.2-mile distance a little closer to home instead.

Admiral Nurse Hannah was dementia lead at the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust until moving on to a new role at UCLH last week.

As her ‘leaving gift’ she is still raising money for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals’ Charity, to support dementia patients cared for by the trust.

Hannah, who has raised more than £800 so far (including Gift Aid), said: “I thought it would be nice to leave doing something positive for the trust and raise funds to help the service keep going.

“I’ve done half marathons over the years but this will be my first marathon. I started training last October but with everything that has happened training has been a bit hit and miss. It’s been quite nice to keep up the running and it’s kept me fit through the pandemic, though.

“I had originally wanted to do the marathon in under four hours. Whether I’ll be able to do the virtual one in that time, I don’t know!”

* Click here to sponsor Hannah to run the virtual 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon