Coronavirus: NHS worker runs 26.2 miles in Colchester care challenge

Fay Sibley set off from her home in Colchester and delivered nine smart speakers to local care homes

A NHS worker has run a marathon stopping at care homes to deliver smart speakers to enable staff to "stay connected" with friends and family.

Fay Sibley ran 26.2 miles (42 km) around Essex, after the race she had been training for was postponed.

Along the route around Colchester she dropped off speakers donated by charity The Cares Family, who she also raised £2,000 for, at nine care homes.

"It was an absolutely amazing experience," Ms Sibley, 33, said.

"And I really enjoyed every minute of it."

The smart speakers were donated by charity The Cares Family which works on connecting older and younger people in their communities

Miss Sibley was due to run the Jurassic Coast Marathon at the weekend but the race was moved to September.

She said she did not want to "waste the training" but also want to do something "for the community and connecting people".

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Miss Sibley said: "I work for the NHS and have been working really closely with care homes since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.

"Sadly, lots of people in care homes are not able to speak to their friends and family so I wanted to do something to help them stay connected and let the staff know we think they are doing an amazing job looking after our loved ones."

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Ms Sibley completed the marathon in four hours and 10 minutes on Saturday.

Residents and staff in the care homes held thank you message and put up banners to support the marathon

She said: "It was really good, it couldn't have gone better actually.

"There were plenty of smiles and lots of support, which made all the difference, and it just felt like a really lovely thing for the community and connecting people."

Ms Sibley, who works for an NHS organisation in London, said some of the care homes gave her thank you presents "which felt the wrong way round".

She finished her run at Loganberry Lodge in Colchester and said the reception "was just far more than I could have expected".

"The residents were all waving from the window which was lovely," she said.

Fay Sibley said she had support from her sister who cycled the route with her and a fellow runner for the last 10 km