Thigh bone fractured in freak fall at 10-miler Runner’s leg break ordeal at city race

Drama unfolded at the Canterbury 10-mile race when a runner slipped and broke her thigh bone in a freak accident on Sunday.

Ambulances had to navigate narrow country lanes in the south of the city to reach Nikki Goodwin, who fell just short of the two-mile mark after leaving the start line at Canterbury Christ Church University’s sports centre in Spring Lane.

Other runners sacrificed their race to wait with the 39-year-old, who is a member of Folkestone Running Club.

She was taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, where she was due to undergo surgery to pin her femur on Tuesday.

Nikki, who lives in Folkestone, had her sights set on running the Manchester Marathon in April, but has now been told she could be out of action for six months.

She thanked those who came to her aid - particularly Stephen Baines, Paul Ridley and an offduty police officer who asked not to be named.

Mr Baines, a sports physiotherapist from Chartham, was running behind Nikki when she fell.

“Out of nowhere her leg just seemed to go from beneath her,” he said.

“Straight away you could tell it was serious. I took my top off and put it over her leg and then others gave her a hat and coat.

“She calmed down so quickly, which was amazing given the state of her leg. But maybe she wouldn’t have been so calm if she had looked at it.

“It was very obvious she’d done something very serious to it. I first thought she had maybe broken her hip, but it’s not surprising to learn she snapped her femur.

“I think anyone who saw what happened would have stopped in the circumstances.”

More than 1,500 runners took part in the race, which was won by Abel Tsegay for the fifth year in a row.

Nikki, who was the first woman over the line at last year’s Deal Half Marathon, said: “Everyone was very kind and many runners that came past offered to stay with me.

“I don’t want this negative incident to overshadow the great performance of my club’s men’s team winning the team prize and the individual performances of my club-mates and others who took part.”

Folkestone Running Club will be contacting the three men who helped Nikki to offer them a free place each in the Folkestone 10 event this April as a show of appreciation.

n For more pictures and full coverage of the race turn to our sports section, pages 46-47.

‘She calmed down so quickly, which was amazing given the state of her leg’