Get a piece of this; Record attempt slots into place.

Byline: By BARBARA ARGUMENT

EXTREME distance runner Sharon Gaytor pushes her body to the edge to win world records.

But it's the Guisborough athlete's battle to finish the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle which has captured Teesside's imagination!

Good-natured Sharon, 45, thinks that's ironic - but a bit of a laugh all the same.

"Now everyone seems to know me as 'the runner doing the big jigsaw'," she said.

"I've had so many emails encouraging me to finish after people read about it in the Gazette. Lots of fans have asked to be able to see it."

Just this week Sharon triumphantly slotted the very last of the 24,000 pieces into place after a marathon four weeks, which, if confirmed, could make her a world record holder for the 4.28m x 1.57m monster - beating a former best effort by five months.

Sharon set about finishing the "Life" puzzle, which comes in four vertical sections, after being forced to abandon her first world record ultra-distance attempt on home ground because of stress damage to her shin bone.

She planned to run 510 miles in 144 continuous hours at Croft Circuit near Darlington to snatch the ultra distance crown, but had to give up after a punishing 155 miles.

Magnet therapy which helped David Beckham heal his famous broken metatarsal in just five weeks before the World Cup played a vital part in Sharon's recovery. But it was the colourful puzzle - a present from husband Bill which takes up the whole of her conservatory - that kept her sane.

"I would love to see it exhibited somewhere," said Sharon. "I know lots of people want to see it, so any suggestions would be welcome."

"It has been very hard and I have become obsessed with wanting to finish it. Some parts like the animals and planets weren't so hard, but the water was very difficult. It took me a whole week to do 1,000 pieces, sorting out the different blues.

"I can't bear not to run and this has helped," said Sharon. "In the last few days I've been able to get back training and it's been heaven to be outside again."

Sharon is determined to be fit for an ultradistance attempt in Bergamo, Italy, in May.

CAPTION(S):

WORLD RECORD? Ultra-distance runner Sharon Gayter in the conservatory of her home after completing, in just four weeks, a giant jigsaw puzzle bought for her by her husband when she had to pull out of a running record attempt Pictures by IAN COOPE; HUGE EFFORT: The planets section of the 24,000- piece 'Life' jigsaw puzzle in Sharon's