THOUGHTS of the support she had received from her daughters’ dance school spurred a marathon runner on to beat her personal best and smash her fundraising target.

Dalaine Crane was hoping to raise £250 for the Ordinary 2 Extraordinary (O2E) charity by completing last Sunday’s London Marathon.

But that was until Gemma Davies, the principal of Dance Off Studios, approached the 33-year-old to suggest the school hold a fundraising event.

All the children at the school in Chelsfield Methodist Church, Windsor Drive, Chelsfield, got together for a sponsored Olympic sports afternoon and danceathon.

This smashed her initial fundraising target by raising £352.50 and Ms Crane, of New Road, Orpington, has now raised more than £1,450.

Ms Crane said: “The children were absolutely amazing and all I kept on thinking was the amount of money that they had raised that afternoon with the danceathon.

“And I was thinking of the charities I was running for and how much it meant to them and the children that helped me.

“I’m absolutely so grateful to Miss Davies of Dance Off who approached me and said she would be able to help with fundraising.”

The 33-year-old managed to complete the 26.2 mile course in four hours 30 minutes and 44 seconds, which is seven minutes faster than she did it last year.

She added: “O2E is about pushing you outside your comfort zone.

“A marathon is not easy and I wanted to beat my time from last year and as a busy mum of two it was difficult to fit in my training.

“But I managed to do it and beat my time from last year.”

On Monday she wore a fancy dress outfit including bee wings, a pink wig and her marathon t-shirt and medal to take her daughter up from Perry Hall School.

This got her an extra £40 for O2E which will be splitting her sponsorship money between four children’s charities including Riverside School, which is based in St Paul’s Cray.

Go to justgiving.com/DalaineCrane to donate to Ms Crane.