A runner who collapsed and died after completing a half-marathon was a physio who dreamed of working for a top football or rugby club, according to his family.

Ralph Murwill, 28, fell shortly after crossing the finish line of the 13.1 mile Robin Hood Festival of Running in Nottingham last Sunday.

His brother Phil, 26, speaking from the family home in Kingston was running with Ralph and two other close friends.

“I passed him after seven miles and he looked over to give me a wink as if to say ‘go on, do well’ and that was the last time I saw him,” he told the Surrey Comet.

“We had arranged to meet at a certain point after the race and he didn’t turn up after half-an-hour so I started to think something was wrong.

“Everyone is devastated and shattered by the whole thing. It was totally out of the blue.”

Mr Murwill ran the race in one hour 51 minutes, crossing the line just 10 minutes after Phil, who described him as: “A very generous guy and a really good friend to lots of people.”

“We have been inundated with messages from his friends,” he added.

Mr Murwill’s other brother, 17-year-old John, said: "He was just an amazing guy, always so thoughtful of other people, and always ready to help anyone who needed it.”

Mr Murwill grew up in Kingston with his two younger sisters and two younger brothers, attending St James in Twickenham before going to university at, and then settling in East London with his girlfriend.

He was at Kingstonian for a couple of seasons working as a physio under manager Steve Sedgley and his then assistant Kim Harris between 2002 and 2003.

Mr Harris said: “He was a lovely boy. He came on work experience and ended up staying. He couldn’t do enough to help you. He just wanted to get on with the physio game. That is a tragedy.”

The family have been delayed from organising a funeral until the results of the postmortem examination.

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