Runner Jamie Finlay had a better reason than many for wanting to finish the Great North Run. The 34-year-old had decided the end of the half marathon would be the perfect time and place to propose to his girlfriend
But unfortunately his plans had to be put on hold after his determination to complete the race left him being taken to hospital. Jamie had planned to pop the question to his partner, Jade Robson, 31, after completing the event September 10, 2023.
Even though he began to feel a ‘niggle’ in his hip that became more painful during the race, he decided to ‘persevere and keep going’. But the devastated pipefitter was forced to abandon the run and his engagement after his leg ‘snapped’ 15 kilometres in.
After being rushed to hospital the couple were ‘shocked’ to discover Jamie’s determination caused him to break his thigh bone and he required reconstruction surgery the next day. Jamie was still keen to propose to Jade, who still had no idea about her partner’s big plans, and just six weeks later he “struggled” down to one knee with the couple hoping to wed next May.
Taking to TikTok, Jade shared a series of photos of the events of the half marathon day captioned ‘GNR proposal gone wrong’, which has now gone viral with nearly 100,000 views. Pictures feature the pair smiling at the start of the run before showing Jamie unable to walk while sitting in the back of an ambulance on his way to hospital.
Jamie, who lives in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, said: “It was a total rollercoaster. The day started out so happy and I couldn’t wait to get the race done and have a nice evening proposing with our friends and family being there. But then it ended up the way it did. It was just crazy.”
He said: “I had a bit of a niggle before the race but I just put it down to over exerting myself in training. I thought I’d get to the end and persevere because there were people waiting at the end.
“I had everything planned and had the ring. I forced myself to get there when I shouldn’t have been. I was so determined to make it happen. Any other day I would’ve just stopped and sacked it off.
“But because I had people waiting at the end that knew what I was going to do and I had the ring and so much going on in my mind I thought I’d persevere and keep going. After about five kilometres it started giving me a bit of pain. At 10 kilometres I was really hurting and at 15 kilometres it felt like somebody kicked my legs away.
“That’s when I snapped my hip. I thought it was just a ligament snap or a broken bone. It didn’t enter my head that that could happen.
“I was devastated. I had the big plan for Jade at the end. I wanted to do the race as well. The injury just consumed me because I was in so much pain.
“Because it was in the middle of the race I couldn’t get an ambulance for two hours so I just sat at the side of the road by myself with a broken hip.”
Jamie revealed that after his partner finished the race alone oblivious to his failed plans, he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. An X-ray revealed Jamie had broken his thigh bone – snapping off the top of his femur – because he refused to stop running and he had reconstruction surgery on 11 September 2023.
Jamie said: “I started the race with a fracture. So every time I was putting my foot down I was making it worse and worse. I was basically breaking my own leg as I was running. I risked a broken hip to propose.”
Despite being unable to walk properly, Jamie booked a weekend-away in Loch Lomond, Scotland, to finally propose to his girlfriend just six weeks later.
Jamie said: “I was thinking ‘we should be engaged now’ but I couldn’t tell Jade. It was playing on my mind all the time so I wanted to do it as soon as possible.
“When they released me from the first surgery the doctor gave me a sick note for six weeks. So I thought I’d be better in six weeks and booked a hotel. I was still on the crutches. Jade was telling me to cancel the weekend.
“I had to go through all the planning procedures again and all the anxiety of doing that again. It was worth it in the end. I had to fling my crutches and struggle down to one knee. I had to keep up the tradition.
A CT scan on Christmas Eve revealed Jamie’s bone never healed and he required hip replacement surgery on January 7, 2024 and relied on his wife-to-be’s constant care.
Jamie said: “The first time they did a reconstruction they pinned it back together but that didn’t work. The bone never healed up. I must’ve been not letting it heal properly.
“My leg was still broken four months later and I had to go in for a full hip replacement which is another three months recovery. It was seven months I was on crutches.
“The first couple of weeks after surgery I was bed bound, I could barely move. You go from running marathons to not being able to walk up the stars. It’s a big life change.
“She was amazing. For the seven months she was basically looking after me. I knew she was marriage material then before we’d even got there.”
The pair, who met on the dating app Tinder nearly six years ago, plan to be married on May 16, 2025 and the groom hopes to one day complete the half marathon. He said: “It’s not fully normal but as good as I could hope it would be. I’ll be able to walk down the aisle.
“The doctors told me that high impact sports aren’t good for me. But I’m determined to finish that race once and then give up running after that. I’m still not confident to do any running again yet.”
Jade, who works as a civil servant, admitted that despite her initial ‘shock’, Jamie’s determination to propose was “sweet”. She said: “For the last six weeks he and everybody else knew but I didn’t. I can’t believe everybody knew.
“It makes me feel bad to be honest. At the time I said ‘why didn’t you just start walking or not run through the pain? You wouldn’t have fully snapped your hip in half if you’d just slowed down’. But obviously at the time he couldn’t tell me.
“After that when he told me I thought ‘I’ve been giving you all that grief for not stopping and now I know the reason’. It was really sweet. I feel a bit bad.
“He will definitely be walking for the wedding. He still wants to run again at some point but I said ‘I don’t want you doing any of that until after the wedding. I’m not having you getting wheeled down the aisle in a wheelchair’.”