'My half marathon heart attack saved my life'

Bridget Privett described her heart as a "ticking time bomb"

A woman, who suffered a cardiac arrest just 30m (98ft) from the finish line of Plymouth's half marathon in 2023, said the incident saved her life.

Bridget Privett from Ivybridge began running during the Covid pandemic and said after becoming the fittest she had ever been, decided to take on a half marathon.

Along with members of her running club, Erme Valley Harriers, she lined up on the start line on 14 May, 2023.

But 13 miles (21km) later she was in the back of an ambulance after the "ticking time bomb" in her chest went off.

'Saved my life'

Ms Privett told BBC Radio Devon: "Looking back, had it happened anywhere else I would not have got out, so to be honest, it was the best place for it to happen."

She later found out she had a defect where her coronary artery was in the wrong place and became squashed during physical exertion, causing her cardiac arrest.

She said: "I was a ticking time bomb and I had a problem with my heart which I never knew.

"In a funny way, the Plymouth Half Marathon saved my life."

Recalling the events that led up to her heart attack, she said she could remember "feeling good" and on track to match her targeted time.

But seemingly out of nowhere she "fell flat on [her] face", breaking her front tooth and cutting open her knee.

Two fellow runners began giving Ms Privett CPR but could not bring her around.

St John's Ambulance paramedics jumped in with their defibrillator, shocking her three times before she was conscious again.

"I do not remember anything - the last thing I remember is just coming up the hill," she said.

"I just remember being in the ambulance and waking in the ambulance."