KENT'S surprise Commonwealth Games heroine Lisa Dobriskey ran the race of a lifetime to clinch 1500m Commonwealth gold medal in Melbourne.

The 22-year-old from Littlestone, on the Romney Marsh, who runs for Ashford Athletics Club, produced a breathtaking late surge to upset pre-race favourite Hayley Tullett and win her first big title in a highly-impressive time of 4:06:21.

She said: “With the timing of the Games it was difficult to peak and things weren’t going as well as I’d hoped.

“I was just happy to reach the final. I thought about maybe getting a medal but to win never entered my head at all.

“Coming off the bend I thought I was going to get fourth. I got a bit boxed in, did some silly things tactics-wise and messed up. But I needed to get through and I just thought: ‘Go for it.’"

Welshwoman Tullett, who had qualified fastest for the final, left her charge too late and had to settle for the bronze in a time of 4:06.76.

Dobriskey, a student at Loughborough University, was ranked only 40th in the world for the distance last year, and had qualified for the final in the third-fastest time.

She added: “I have to thank my coach George Gandy, my boyfriend and my mum and dad back home.”