WILLITON firefighter Erin Fairhead ran her way into the Guinness Book of Records at Sunday’s London Marathon by becoming the fastest woman to complete the race in full fire-fighting kit.

Her time of four hours, nine minutes and 32 seconds beat the previous record by almost an hour and a half, and was nearly half an hour better than she had expected as she battled through the field of over 39,000 contestants in a heavy fireproof suit, helmet and boots.

The marathon triumph, along with her other fundraising projects, has now raised over £3,000 for the Fire Fighters’ Charity.

Erin’s achievement won praise from Alex O’Shea, the fastest man to have run the course in full firefighter’s gear.

A firefighter from the Irish city of Cork who completed his record run in 3 hours 41 minutes and ten seconds, contacted the Free Press this week and told us:

“Erin did a great job achieving her goal and running a super time.

“I would love if you could pass on my congratulations to Erin, as I know the effort involved first hand.”