A TEENAGER has been commended for helping a runner who collapsed during a race.

Matthew Holdgate, 14, stayed calm when a participant passed out during the Staplehurst 10k run on Saturday.

The youngster, who is a member of the Air Training Corps, was marshalling the event in Pagehurst Road.

At about 2.15pm, runners alerted him to a man who had collapsed further up the road.

Matthew sprinted to the spot to find a 41-year-old runner semi-conscious on the ground.

Matthew, a pupil at Angley School, Cranbrook, said: “He wasn’t communicating, just groaning. I had to try and keep him still because he was rolling into the road.”

The teenager, who has done first aid training with the Air Training Corps and at school, remembered everything he had learned.

He got another competitor to keep the man still while he put some water on his head and placed his jacket over him.

He then phoned the ambulance service, who told him to make sure the runner was not moved or given anything to drink.

Matthew took this advice on board - and when a passing car stopped and the driver offered to take the man to hospital, he insisted he was left where he was.

Paramedics then arrived and whizzed the patient off to Maidstone Hospital. He was later discharged after receiving treatment for exhaustion.

Matthew’s relative Alan Golding said: “We are all really proud of him, especially when you consider he is just 14.

“When he acted he did not know what the situation was, and could have been performing life-saving actions.”

Race organiser Mike Hawkins added: “It showed great presence of mind. He did exactly what he should have done.”

Mr Hawkins also thanked runners Debbie Tyler, Mary Penfold and Rob Burnand for stopping to help.

The runner also expressed his thanks to Matthew and the others who stopped.