Marathon runner crawls to the line

A top female runner was forced to crawl the last 50m of a US marathon after collapsing with the finish line in sight.

Kenyan Hyvon Ngetich, 29, was leading her field in the Austin, Texas race and had just a few strides to go when her body gave out.

Rather than quit, she began crawling on her hands and knees along the road as the crowd cheered her on.

Race volunteers approached with a wheelchair but she refused to take it, as she would have been disqualified had they intervened.

"Oh, God, thank you, I crossed," said Ngetich when she eventually crossed the line, finishing third in the women's division.

Race director John Conley told Fox 7 TV in Austin that it was the most impressive finish he had seen in 43 years of being involved in the sport.

He said to Ngetich: "You ran the bravest race and crawled the bravest crawl I have ever seen in my life. You have earned much honor, and I am going to adjust your prize money, so you get the same prize money you would have gotten if you were second."