A blind 11-year-old girl crossed the finish line of her first marathon after a gruelling 14 hours, three minutes and 12 seconds. Wakana Ueda ran the 26.2 mile Honolulu Marathon with the help of her mother’s voice and chanting crowds in Hawaii’s capital. The youngster, from Toyota City in Japan, faced physical strains as she battled through the race, before passing the finish line which was strung with flower petals. Her mother told Hawaii News Now through a translator: ‘Before the halfway mark her leg was cramping up and she was thinking about quitting many times. ‘But because the team supported her, she was able to finish.’ The race is America’s fifth largest marathon and Wakana was one of 19,000 people to cross the finish line. There were a total of 22,615 people from around the world who signed up for the 39th Honolulu Marathon though, which faced obstacles before the big day. Marathon organisers had to quickly fix a broken water line on the course and luckily heavy rains stopped just before the race kicked off. Some thought the race would be cancelled due to severe weather the day before and others wore ponchos during the race just in case it started up again.