The Boston Marathon in the United States might be held in Spring, but for Newcastle-based Paralympian Christie Dawes, it felt more like the thick of winter.
Dawes, who has won three Paralympic medals in her racing career, came in sixth in Sunday's Boston Marathon — one of the most renowned races on the global marathon calendar.
She said while she expected cold conditions, the weather left her battling hypothermia.
"It was a really heavy fog, we got out there at 7am and the race didn't start until 9am, and we thought 'Well, the fog will lift'," she said.
"It actually just set in and then it started to drizzle.
"The first 5 kilometres is all downhill, so you're tucking it and you're hitting speeds of over 60 kilometres per hour.
"On a wet road, downhill, sharing a fairly small two-lane road with a dozen other athletes … it's quite scary.
"The visibility was really low, and it's quite a dangerous race, but also a very cold race and at about 27kms I knew that hypothermia was setting in."
She said considered stopping at a medical tent for an assessment, but was concerned they may not have helped quickly.
"They're not going to have the facilities to warm me up, they don't have my day chair, they don't have my clothing, I'm soaked through … so I just kept going," Dawes said.
"It was awful, but I had very great care at the end."
Despite the troubles, Dawes crossed the line sixth in the women's wheelchair division with a solid time of 1:56:42.
Australian wheelchair Paralympian Madison De Rozario finished in second place, with a time of 1:46:55, while Melburnian Jake Lappin finished sixth in the men's wheelchair division, recording a time of 1:36:09.
Nearly 30,000 racers and runners from more than 100 countries entered this year's event, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Boston Bombings.
Mid-race roadkill disaster
Dawes, a two-time Paralympic silver medallist, told ABC Radio Newcastle the weather conditions during the race were "anything but boring".
Water on the ground spelled a recipe for an unexpected mid-race roadkill disaster for Dawes.
"I didn't see it until I was on top of it, but some fresh road kill had mixed in with the rain," she said.
"I hit it right with my front wheel and it splashed all over me and into my mouth.
"I spent the next 6km trying to expel that from my body, so it really was a disastrous race — but I came sixth!"
