An Epsom grandmother who was the oldest woman to run in this weekend’s London Marathon finished the race in seven hours and declared: “I feel fine.”

Irene Clarke, 83, joined the scores of runners at the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday (April 25) - and even got to join celebrities on the starting line thanks to her unique status of being the oldest female runner.

Mrs Clarke, who has been running for 12 years, said: “It was amazing. It was a good run. It took me just over seven hours to finish it and today I feel fine.”

The former accountant, who runs three days a week, had taken a rest to ensure she was fit enough for Sunday’s race.

The mother-of-one and grandmother-of-two has been running since she was 56 and ever since completing her first marathon, at the age of 61, she decided to keep running at every opportunity.

She said: “I took up running a little bit before my husband died. He never saw me run a marathon. The reason I like it is because it doesn’t really cost you anything and it’s so rewarding. I got quite a lot out of it and I met quite a lot of people.”

Her daughter, Michelle, whose birthday was Sunday, went along to the marathon to follow Mrs Clarke’s progress and give refreshments throughout.

Mrs Clarke may like running, but her favourite thing is meeting new people every time she takes on a new challenge.

She said: “I have done many marathons for charity, but now that I’m not at work anymore and there’s only me and my daughter I’m running for myself.”

Even though Mrs Clarke is fit for her age and could continue at the same pace, her career as a marathonist may be slowly drawing to an end.

Mrs Clarke said: “I think this will be my last full marathon. I’ll probably run half-marathons but I don’t think I can run another full one.”