As reported in Friday's Lynn News, Mr Hennessy (30) was the on-call orthopaedic registrar at the hospital when he was given time off by consultant, James Jeffrey, to "go and win the race" on Sunday, May 4, before returning to the operating theatre.

He did just as ordered, winning the ten-kilometre road event at Lynn in an impressive 31min 10sec – but he could not stop for the trophy presentations that day and instead they took place outside the hospital entrance last Thursday.

As the first local runner to finish, Mr Hennessy scooped the Duncan Gooderson Trophy and it was presented to him by Maurice Gooderson, father of the young runner who tragically died at the end of the first GEAR in Lynn.

He also won £300 and the race trophy, and a further £200 from the England Athletics Eastern Region Grand Prix series for which the Lynn race counted this year, as the overall winner.

Race director Harry Collins presented him with the trophy and money. He also handed a personal cheque for £100 to Senior Sister Debbie Coe and Sister Pru Fox for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, after being impressed by the Bouncing Babes team's effort in the race for the same cause.

Mr Collins said: "It was great to see someone local like Andrew win and because he is such a nice guy. It's a bit of a fairytale – and he did it in a very good time. The first three were all from Norfolk."