WHEELCHAIR wonder Tanni Grey-Thompson proved she was back on form yesterday after winning the London Marathon ten weeks after having her first baby.

The Paralympic champion, from Redcar, east Cleveland, stormed home in the women's wheelchair race ten minutes ahead of rival, Michelle Lewis.

She crossed the line with a time of two hours and 22 minutes, winning the race for the sixth time.

It was a surprise result for the sports star who almost did not enter because it was so soon after giving birth to daughter Carys.

After the race, Tanni said: "It was pretty hard this year. I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision to do the race in the first place.

" I had a few rough patches in the race at about 19 or 20 miles, but I'm actually quite pleased with my time.

"I was really lucky I had a couple of British guys alongside me, and they gave me a lot of encouragement - that made a lot of difference."

Last month Tanni, who was awarded an OBE for her sporting achievements, competed in the 20th Redcar half marathon.

It was her first race after giving birth and, of ten competitors, she finished seventh.

Her coach is husband Dr Ian Thompson, who has helped her get back into training following their daughter's arrival. Tanni said: "I started training when she was three weeks old and the first three weeks were fantastic. I did a couple of races, and I was fine.

"Then I did a 10k two weeks ago and it was the slowest I have done. That was when I started questioning whether a marathon was the right thing."

During the London Marathon, Tanni had a one kilogramme camera attached to her wheelchair to provide TV viewers with a realistic feel of the course.

Former Olympic athlete Steve Cram will be taking to a wheelchair next week to race Tanni to promote the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

* British athlete Paula Radcliffe - running her first competitive marathon - smashed the UK record and became the second-fastest female runner ever at that distance.