GPS failure means Jodey’s London marathon is a whopping 49 miles

Her face pitched against the rain and cold Jodey Hopcroft ended up covering a gruelling 49 miles because her London marathon app couldn't track her race properly Picture: Jodey Hopcroft (Image: Archant)

Instead she embarked on a 15-hour rain-soaked, blister-blighted torment - all thanks to a catastrophic GPS failure on the Norfolk coast.

The 38-year-old pulled on her running shoes at the family-run Waxham Sands holiday park fully reliant on the virtual Virgin Money London Marathon app to track her progress - and crucially to let her know when 26.2 miles was up.

Alarm bells rang when it failed to register her half-a-mile-long drive, but after a few laps of the large camp site and heading out onto the main road she found a fix.

Paying attention to where she was walking and checking in with the app it became clear it was only intermittently registering her distance, and when at what would have been around 20 miles it was only showing mile 13 she was briefly ready to throw in the towel.

Jodey Hopcroft admitted she had a few tears by the roadside when she ended up running nearly 50 miles instead of 26.2 during the virutal London marathon because of a poor GPS signal Picture: Jodey Hopcroft (Image: Archant)

“Once I had started I could not stop, everything would have been void.

“I thought it would be fine, I did not have a secondary device so was a bit naive there, so I had to keep going until the app registered I had done 26.2.

“I was always planning to walk it because I had not done any training. I was walking in streams and started getting blisters.

“Believe me there were a couple of times I did have a bit of a cry, I was just in agony.

Jodey Hopcroft was exhausted and suffering from painful blisters after she jogged and walked for nearly 50 miles to complete this years 40th London marathon which was held virtually. A poor GPS signal in Norfolk meant her progress wasn't recording properly Picture: Jodey Hopcroft (Image: Archant)

“I thought I would be done between 12 and 2pm as I knew I would get stopped by people.

“I just had to carry on.

“It wasn’t really the app’s fault. I should have known round that area was rubbish for GPS. It was only registering every now and then.”

In the end, after more than 15 hours, she finally clocked the distance outside the camp shop at around 7pm.

For Jodey Hopcroft this year's virtual London marathon was close to 50miles after a GPS fail. She is raising money for MS-UK via Just Giving Picture: Just Giving (Image: Archant)

Her route had taken in multiple laps of the site, Martham, Hemsby, Somerton, Sea Palling and Hickling - cheered on by family and friends sending motivational texts and videos.

It was only afterwards when she checked a map she realised she had actually walked “48 or 49 miles”, erupting into “hysterical laughter”.

“It is just so funny,” she added.

“The rain and cold and blisters were unbelievable, but it is a huge sense of achievement.”

Waxham Sands Holiday Park on a sunny summer's day. When Jodey Hopcroft set out on her marathon run the conditions could not have been more different Pictures: BRITTANY WOODMAN (Image: Archant)

Miss Hopcroft was running for MS-UK. To sponsor her visit Just Giving and search Jodeylee Hopcroft.