ONE of Oxfordshire's first marathon finishers said she was pleased to finish safely after seeing runners collapsing during the hottest London Marathon in history.

Eileen Naughton completed her eleventh London Marathon earlier today in three hours 52 minutes as more than 40,000 runners battled temperatures of up to 24C in the capital.

The 35-year-old, from Didcot, said: "It was the hardest one I've done because of the heat.

"I had a time in mind that I wanted to beat but I started to see other people collapsing and falling over - I'm not disappointed I'm just glad I finished safely."

Her efforts raised £485 for children's charity Rosie's Rainbow Fund, which runs music therapy sessions for sick children at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

In her previous ten marathons she raised more than £17,000 for the Children with Cancer charity.

The inspirational runner was inspired herself by an encounter with Sir Mo Farah during today's marathon - who would end up breaking the British record and finishing third.

She said: "At one point at mile 12 the really fast runners were going past in the opposite direction and I saw Mo.

"A huge cheer went up and I pretended it was for me to spur me on - it was great to see him and gave me a real boost.

"I was near all those trying to break records at the beginning - I saw someone attempting to be the fastest postman and another going for fastest golfer.

"It was a really great day and I'm grateful to those who supported me."

If running the full distance in yesterday's intense heat wasn't impressive enough, 47-year-old Shaun Scott completed the marathon with a 15kg bike on his back.

The Churchill Hospital doctor was raising money for The Fire Fighters Charity after being touched by their bravery following the Grenfell fire last year.

The father-of-two, who lives in the village of Forest Hill, raised more than £6,000.

He said: "It was boiling, it was very hot and really was hard going and a long, gruelling day.

"I was aiming for under five hours but finished in just over six hours in the end - but the bike stayed up for the whole 26.2 miles and it was worth it to raise money for The Fire Fighters Charity."

He added: "The heat was ferocious and slowed me down for the first couple of hours.

"The emergency services were everywhere and everybody seemed well looked after."