A MARATHON first-timer has taken the plunge and completed the mother of all runs to raise money for a children s charity. Amy Sillietoe, art teacher and head of Year Nine at Dagenham Park Community School, School Road, Dagenham, raised �1,000 for the NSP

A MARATHON first-timer has taken the plunge and completed the mother of all runs to raise money for a children's charity.

Amy Sillietoe, art teacher and head of Year Nine at Dagenham Park Community School, School Road, Dagenham, raised �1,000 for the NSPCC by completing the 26.2mile London Marathon on April 26 in four hours and 37mins.

She joined 35,000 fellow runners who were cheered on by the encouraging calls of complete strangers.

She said: "It was amazing. The spectators were fantastic.

"Because you have your name on your back you get strangers calling your name and cheering you on."

She said she had run the Marathon for the first time although she had applied two years ago.

When she found out that her application had been successful, she trained three to four times every week from Christmas until now.

Friends from school showed up to cheer her on, as well as her parents who had come from Cornwall to watch her take on the task of a lifetime.

Ms Sillietoe said: "That was my challenge. But I would not mind doing the New York Marathon or climbing the Kilimanjaro.

"Running with all those people makes a complete difference. It's not as boring as running by yourself.

"It's great to be part of it. There's no competition, it's quite a social thing."

The money, which was mainly donations by her Dagenham Park School work colleagues, will help protect children from abuse.