Austin marathon runner crawls across finish line

AUSTIN, TX -- In an extraordinary finish to the 2015 Austin Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday, the third female marathon runner to cross the finish line did so by crawling on all fours.

KEYE-TV identifies the woman as Hyvon Ngetich of Kenya. She could be seen leading the pack of elite women at the 23 mile mark, but then she started to lose her drive and fall behind.

By the time she got to the home stretch, her body gave out, but her spirit did not. She began crawling towards the finish line on her hands and knees.

Medics and race volunteers quickly stepped in to offer help, including to put her in a wheelchair, but Ngetich was determined to get across the finish line on her own.

"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," Austin Marathon race director John Conley told KEYE-TV.

Cynthia Jerop of Kenya took first in the women's marathon with a time of 2:54:22. Betram Keter of Kenya won the men's division finishing at 2:16:21.