A runner who was forced to drop out of an Antarctic marathon last year has completed her goal.

Months after undergoing knee surgery, Anna Laura Hocking completed the Antarctica Marathon last month, placing eleventh in a group of 300 runners and coming third in the women’s category.

Ms Hocking, who had to forfeit last January after contracting Covid-19, said that she completed the race despite having had surgery in October.

She added: “Ultimately, I wanted to stay true to my commitment to Raleigh Bermuda, which was the charity that I raised funds for.

“That’s why I had to come back to Antarctica to finish what I set out to do.”

Ms Hocking, who has been running for several years, was supposed to run the marathon last January with team-mates Mark Harris, Andy McComb and Phil Martin.

The group, who called themselves the Bermuda Penguins, took up the challenge to raise money for Raleigh, a youth adventure and education charity.

Ms Hocking said that the race typically had a long wait list, but she explained the organisers “took pity on me” and let her redo the race this year.

She said that she ran against 33-knot winds, with gusts up to about 40 knots and wind chills in the low Fahrenheit — well below freezing.

Ms Hocking added that by the time she finished the race, it had begun to snow.

She said: “The course was quite a treacherous trail and had an elevation gain of over 3,000 feet.

“It was the hardest marathon I have ever done and I even tripped and fell a couple of times but was able to get back up and keep on going.”

While she was prepared for the cold and was wearing plenty of layers, she said the terrain took her by surprise as the racecourse went over several hills and the runners would hit freezing winds on the ridges.

Ms Hocking said that because running conditions were so brutal, every runner was about an hour slower than their average run time.

Ms Hocking completed the race in 4hr 38min, more than an hour slower than her personal best from a year ago of 3:27.

But she added that some runners were not allowed to finish the race, being taken off the course as bad weather moved in. However, they did receive half-marathon medals.

Ms Hocking said: “One of the runners said to me ‘this is what I imagine running on Mars would be like’.

“The terrain was so rocky and everything would just freeze over. The wind would change in an instant.”

Ms Hocking said that she hoped that her dedication would live up to Raleigh Bermuda’s mission to follow through with one’s promises and inspire young people to do the same.

She said: “I just wanted to fulfil my commitment to them. When you set your mind to something you do it.”

As for Ms Hocking’s plans, she is running in the Boston Marathon this month.

She also intends to join the small group of marathoners who have completed a marathon in all seven continents. With Antarctica out of the way, she is past the halfway mark and has Australia, Africa and South America to go.