A 70-year-old librarian has seen her racing schedule scuppered after she was knocked down by a cyclist in Battersea Park leaving her with broken ribs.

Keen walker Kathy Crilley was participating in a five mile trek when she says a cyclist hit her from behind, breaking two of her ribs and causing facial damage.

The accident occurred by West Carriage Drive in Battersea Park during a five mile road walk/ run organised by Veterans Athletic Club.

She said: “I had passed the two mile marker and was focused on keeping the walker ahead of me in my sights. I was walking well but conscious I was right at the back. Some of the lead runners had started to lap me but as I was race walking, this didn’t worry me.

“I recall seeing the walker ahead of me disappear around the corner and that was it. The next thing I remember was coming round lying on the ground. I just thought it was all a very strange dream. Whilst lying in A&E hours later I did have a flashback where I felt a shove in my back.

"Some of the cyclists were going very fast. Given that most of the public tend to walk on the road it’s quite dangerous especially as some of the cyclists were weaving in and around the public.”

Kathy believes she gave the cyclist a wide berth, providing enough space to get past her.

After the incident the cyclist stayed at the scene and co-operated with the parks police enquiries.

When she regained consciousness, Kathy was taken in an ambulance to Chelsea and Westminster hospital where she stayed for 48 hours and had CT scans to check her head injuries.

The incident happened on Tuesday, April 17 at around 7:30pm.

Kathy was due to take part in the London Marathon on Sunday, April 22 to raise cash for Sarcoma UK, a cancer charity. And in May, she was supposed to be competing in a six day race in Balatonfured in Hungary as well as Paris Alsace, a 300km stage race in France.

Due to her injuries, she is unsure whether she will participate in the race in France as her broken ribs will take up to six weeks to heal and she won’t be able to do any training beforehand.

Battersea parks police said: “Officers in the council’s Parks Police service were called to an incident on Battersea Park’s West Carriage Drive involving a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian.

"This resulted in the pedestrian being taken to hospital by ambulance. We have made initial contact with her and will be speaking to her again in the coming days so that we can carry out further investigations.”