A REAL Cinderella moment couldn’t stand in the way of determined Dawn Williams who was aiming for a time of three hours 40 minutes in the marathon.

Minutes into the race, the Banbury Crematorium gardener lost a shoe as another runner stepped on the back of her trainer when two streams of competitors merged at the three-quarters-of-a mile mark.

With thousands of runners behind her she was unable to pick it up and was forced to hobble to the sidelines to seek help from a steward, who explained the first opportunity she would have to look for it would be three in quarters of an hour when the wave of competitors had passed by.

Hearing her predicament, a spectator who lived close by volunteered to run home and get her a pair of trainers, but then returned with a pair of fashion pumps that wouldn’t have been suitable for the 26 miles that lay ahead.

Another woman offered Dawn her own trainers, but the competitive 46-year-old decided only to take one because her time chip was still attached to one of her own.

“She was just a spectator and she took the shoes off her feet,” Dawn explained.

After a delay of 15 minutes and wearing odd shoes she set off, completing the race in three hours 45 minutes – just five minutes slower than her target – bagging a place in next year’s race.

“I don’t know who she is and I have no way of giving them back,” Dawn said.

“I’ve raised £600 for the Banbury Sea Cadets and I was panicking, thinking ‘I can’t pull out’. It felt horrible running in different shoes but I’ve got no blisters.

“I was so grateful to her.

“She just went above and beyond.

“I would love to know who she is so I can give her the trainer back.”