INQUESTS into the deaths of four competitors during the Great North Run began today with the heartbreaking accounts of families describing how they learned of their individual tragedies.

One wife waited at the finishing line with her husband's customary beer shandy only to find out more than two hours later he had collapsed and died. Another woman taking part with her brother, to raise money for her terminally ill child, discovered him lying by roadside _ he had been there for up to 45 minutes when she caught up with him.

The men, who collapsed during the Tyneside race on September 18 2005, were aged between 28 and 52, and all fit and healthy, the inquest sitting in Gateshead was told.

Among 38,000 people taking part in the 25th annual half marathon, they all died within the last three miles of the 13.1 mile race and within the same hour.

The victims were deputy head teacher Phil Lewis, 52, of Chester-le-Street, County Durham, David Mahaffey, 43, of York, and company directors Reuben Wilson, 28, from Leeds, and Kieran Patching, 34, from Walderslade, near Chatham in Kent.