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Watch: Kiwi Paralympic sprinting legend Liam Malone collapses at finish line after conquering Hawke's Bay marathon

May 12, 2018

Double gold medallist Paralympic sprinter Liam Malone has completed his first marathon race, running the entire course on his blades in the Hawke's Bay marathon today.

Malone, 24, finished the race in four hours and 47 minutes, finishing 256th out of 297 competitors.

Liam Malone finishes the marathon. Hawkes Bay Marathon, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Saturday, 12 May, 2018. Copyright photo: John Cowpland / www.photosport.nz

The former sprinter won two golds at the Rio Paralympics Games in the 400m and 200m T44 events in 2016.

Malone told 1 NEWS earlier in the week that he has struggled after 10km of running, with the pain in his legs during training. The blades he runs in not designed for long distance running.

"The really challenging part for me is that by about 10km I'd say I am at about a seven to eight out of ten pain in my legs because I'm putting all my body weight through a surface area that's about the size of my wrist," said Malone.

Liam Malone finishes the marathon. Hawkes Bay Marathon, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Saturday, 12 May, 2018. Copyright photo: John Cowpland / www.photosport.nz

"My legs bleed like crazy so the hardest part for me is not going to be the fitness involved it's actually dealing with the sheer physical pain of my blades beating against my leg and that's really sore." 

Malone said that he has done minimal training for the 42km event, saying has done only about 10 training runs prior to the Hawke's Bay.

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