Woods misses out on marathon medal

Britain’s Shelly Woods just missed out on ending the Paralympics with a medal as she finished fourth in the marathon.

Woods, who had already won a bronze and silver medal on the track, produced a very strong race but found her rivals too strong in the closing stages.

She entered the Bird’s Nest stadium still in touch with the leaders, but couldn’t find the pace over the final lap.

“I did my best. I raced hard but the competition was very tough,” she said.

“They just had more speed at the finish. In the last 2km the pace just went, it hotted up. I was trying to move up on the last lap in the stadium, but it was a great race.”

“Every credit to Edith said Woods. “She pushed a great race. Coming into the stadium here is really amazing. To finish in the Birds Nest is just brilliant and it ended a great week.

She said that she was now concentrating on converting her silver and bronze medals into golds at London 2012.

“To win two medals at my first Paralympic Games is fantastic. Now my ambition for London is to win a gold. In the next few years I hope to get stronger and faster. I’m definitely going to work my ass off.”

In the men’s race, David Weir decided to not to compete after a gruelling schedule of 12 races saw him pick up two golds, a silver and a bronze on the track.

Weir, who had been suffering with illness all week he had already said he would meet with his doctor and see how he felt before deciding whether or not to race.

Athletics team manager Tim Jones said Weir was “physically and emotionally drained having achieved everything he set out to at this Paralympics.”