WHEN Janet Hill (previously Morgan) moved from Cardigan to Newcastle years ago she had no idea she would one day take part in the biggest half marathon race in the world.

Every year she and her husband would watch the Great North Run from their garden and over the years Janet began to wish she could take part.

It wasn’t until her 50th birthday that she started a fitness regime and regularly visited her local gym.

“I started joining classes and very soon began to really enjoy my time at the gym,” said Janet.

It was around the same time that her older sister Wendy Cooper (previously Morgan), who now lives in Cardiff, started running and joined a local ladies group on a Couch to 5K running programme.

“I’ve always enjoyed running but was totally out of practice. Our group quickly became friends and our runs were more for fun than anything else,” said Wendy.

“It wasn’t long before I reached 5K and so I kept running and managed to lengthen the distance I could run.”

On one of their regular and lengthy telephone calls, both ladies decided to enter the Great North Run and ended up running together for the first time since they were children growing up on Castle Malgwyn Farm in Llechryd.

They completed the world’s biggest half marathon in a respectable time of 2 hours 49 minutes. To say they were pleased with their achievement would be putting it mildly.

“We couldn’t stop smiling for the last mile of the race” said Janet.

Both ladies ran for charity. Janet chose to run for Cystic Fibrosis - to support one of her best friends in Cardigan whose family is affected by the condition. Wendy ran for her favourite charity, the NSPCC.