Woman who fell off cliff while escaping sexual assault two years ago finishes marathon on crutches
The 25-year-old Hannah Gavios, who was left nearly paralyzed for life after jumping off a cliff to get away from a horrific sexual assault in Thailand, reportedly finished the New York City Marathon on crutches on Sunday along with tens of thousands of other runners.
Gavios, who fractured her spine after falling from a cliff, strived through the 26.2-mile, five-borough course on crutches and finished the marathon in 11 hours, at about 8 pm, according to the New York Post. Even though most of the competitors had finished the run by the time Gavios reached the final leg, they waited for her and greeted her with at the finish line.
Hannah, after completing the race, said: "I didn’t expect these many people. It just shows my city has my back. My city is awesome, waiting for me here — I don’t know how long everyone waited for me — it just means so much to me that you guys stayed. Thank you.” She also added that her main thought after she finished the race was to "get through the pain."