PE teacher Emily King more than tripled her fundraising target for the London Marathon, bringing in nearly £7,000 for the Army’s national charity.

Emily, who works at Gordon’s School, achieved a lifetime ambition when she took part in the 26-mile run on Sunday.

She completed the marathon – which was the largest since the event started with more than 48,000 runners – in four hours and two minutes.

Emily had intended to raise £2,000 for the ABF, which is known as the Soldiers’ Charity, in tribute to the West End school’s former director of sport, Steve Monk.

Steve, who served in the Army PT Corps for more than 20 years, died last year.

Emily’s friends, colleagues, students, former students and friends of Steve rallied round to sponsor her in his memory.

“Steve was the one that got me into running,” said Emily, who has been a teacher at Gordon’s for 22 years.

“I contacted Steve’s wife when the ABF offered me a place and she said ‘go for it, Steve would be so chuffed’. All I thought was ‘oh no I am going to have to do it!’.”

Steve’s wife Jackie and her two children joined Emily on runs during her 12 weeks of training for the marathon.

Emily also chose to support the ABF because of the number of children from forces families who attend Gordon’s and the staff who have links to the armed services.

After the run, she said: “I can’t thank everyone enough for all their support and generous donations to the ABF.

“It was an awesome day, tough but an incredible and unforgettable experience, and the support all the way round was amazing. I was proud to run in Steve’s memory and I know he was with me every step of the way.”

She added: “ABF really do make a difference to so many lives supporting our Army personnel and their families in so many ways,” she said.

Donations can still be made via Emily’s fundraising page – visit https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/emilyking/londonmarathon2023