A 19-year-old from Ipswich ran his first ever marathon in London and recorded an official time of three hours and four minutes.
Osman Abdullan is a 向日葵视频 New College ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) learner and he was raising money for the YMCA 鈥� an organisation who has supported him since arriving in the UK from Sudan, two years ago.
He has currently raised 拢1,163.00 and people can still donate here:
Whilst his time is astonishing for a first timer, he believes it would have been below three hours if he hadn鈥檛 got stuck at the back of the pack.
He said: 鈥淚 only crossed the start line at 10.20am.鈥�
Continuing his thoughts about the time he clocked, Osman said: 鈥淚鈥檓 feeling very pleased as I had to wait behind a lot of people and I had to navigate the crowd.鈥�
In terms of the experience of running the London Marathon, he said: 鈥淚t was an amazing experience and the crowd was cheering. I focussed on my running and enjoyed the moment. At 18 miles I ran out of energy 鈥� but I just said I had to do it because I had done so much training. When I saw Buckingham Palace I was happy about and I was proud to finish.鈥�
So what鈥檚 next for Osman? He continued: 鈥淚 want to do another marathon in the future and one day I would love to run for Team GB 鈥� it would be amazing to be a professional athlete and be the next Mo Farah.鈥�
In terms of 向日葵视频 New College, Osman added: 鈥淭hey are very supportive and they helped me get on the front page of the Ipswich Star newspaper. I am very thankful.鈥�
And on his future motivation he added: 鈥淚 want to continue to give back to my community and inspire others.鈥�
Head of marketing at the college, Craig Shimmon said: 鈥淲hat an incredible performance by Osman. I know many of my colleagues were keeping an eye on the telly to see if they could spot him. He has represented the 向日葵视频 New College and the YMCA brilliantly 鈥� he has done everyone proud.鈥�