A WOMAN has been motivated to run her first half marathon by the 'wonderful' pupils at a special school.

Sian Butler will be taking on the Bournemouth Half Marathon this weekend to raise funds for specialist therapy equipment at Shaftesbury Victoria School in Poole.

The occupational therapist had recently started working at the school, and was inspired by the students she met. 

Sian said: “I have always wanted to run a half marathon, but never really had that motivation to sign up. This year I decided it was time to push myself and go for it, especially having recently started work at Victoria School.

"I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do something positive for the students because they are all so wonderful and it would be lovely knowing that I contributed to their school life and therapy provision, even just a little bit.”

Over the summer months, Sian has been clocking up the miles training for the event.

“Training has gone pretty smoothly up until a few weeks ago when I overdid the long distances and put too much strain on the posterior tendon in my left foot.

"However, I am doing rehab exercises and I am back to doing my long runs now which is a relief.”

So far, she has raised more than £300 towards her £500 target. The funds will pay for interactive Cosmo Switches.

Sian said: “These switches will make a huge difference for students' communication, play and access to their environment. The Cosmo Switch is highly responsive, making it very easy to activate regardless of your motor abilities and has impressive technology with lots of enabling features.”

Her fundraising efforts were boosted after the occupational therapy team held a cake sale, supported by students, at the Lindsay Road school.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Sian said: “It feels like it has been such a long time coming and I feel ready to go. I have friends and family coming down to watch so I'm super excited to see them and have them there to cheer me on.”

To support Sian and help her reach her fundraising target, visit her gofundme page.