A woman catastrophically injured 12 years ago after being hit  by a car is has set herself a tough
challenge.

Harriet Jordan Wrench is in training  to run the London Marathon next month and is pushing herself to the  limit to make sure she reaches the finishing line on the day.

It will be the first time the 29-year-old has run a marathon – and it will be a big  step for her after she suffered life-chang ing injuries when she was struck by a  car in Madeira Drive, Brighton, in 2000.

Just 16 at the time, the former  Dorothy Stringer School pupil had  been celebrating a friend’s birthday at  the Volks Tavern nightclub when was struck as she crossed the road.

Her skull, leg, ankle and all her right  ribs were fractured and she broke her  pelvis in 12 places.

She was unconscious for almost a  month, with doctors fearing she would  die, and has subsequently endured  nine operations.

She said: “The London Marathon is the ultimate challenge and I aim to finish it. I don’t think I’ll do it in three  hours but I’ll do it in my own time – and  I don’t want to come last.

“I started running a while ago, just  round the park, and it went from there.  The training is going well – I’m up to 17  miles now and by the end of next weekend I hope to reach 20.

“I’ve heard that during the marathon you kind of hit a wall at 20 to  21 miles but so far I’ve never run that  far. But I can stop if I have to.”

Harriet, who was talented at sports as a child, moved to London from  Brighton, where she lived with her  mother Pauline in Miller’s Road, in  2004 to study Fine Art at Central St  Martins.

Despite her injuries, she had taken her GCSEs just months after the accident wearing an oxygen mask and on a morphine drip.

Her high grades earned her a place to study law at the sixth  form college BHASVIC in Dyke Road,
Brighton.

Now she runs a London-based videomaking website called secretsessions.tv, where she has worked with  bands including Brighton hiphop duo  Rizzle Kicks, The Stereophonics and  Hanson and the artists Ben Howard  and Frank Turner.

She said: “Physically, my injuries  have made the running that little bit  harder than for anyone else. The right  side of my body is much weaker and so  I compensate by using my left side  more, which causes aches and pains on  that side.”

Harriet plants to raise at least £2,000  for RoadPeace, the national charity for  road crash victims, which helped her  mother in the immediate aftermath of  the accident.

The charity, which  selects one candidate a year to run for  it, has chosen Harriet for this year’s event on April 13.