Hero shot during Manchester synagogue attack defies odds at Great Manchester Run
Yoni Finlay was injured after barricading the doors to protect others - now he has completed a half marathon
A father who survived being shot while barricading the doors of a synagogue to protect worshippers during a terror attack has completed the Great Manchester Run.
Yoni Finlay was one of tens of thousands of participants at the event, where runners can take on either a 10km course or a half marathon, which is 21.1km. The dad-of-four remarkably took on the bigger challenge fewer than eight months since the attack unfolded outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, on October 2 last year - during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Yoni told the Manchester Evening News he was 'pleased he got through it'. He said: "Around seven months ago I was shot outside the Heaton Park synagogue, on Yom Kippur. On that day I promised myself that I would get back to a half marathon. I did one two years ago, and I promised myself that I would do it again.
"Seven months later, I've managed to do it. I'm slightly disappointed, because I was five seconds slower than two years ago, but I'm really, really pleased that I did it. I got through it."
Yoni raised funds for The Friendship Circle, in Salford, which is a charity supporting Jewish children and adults with physical and learning disabilities. He described how volunteering with the charity helped him through his recovery in the months following the attack.
Yoni added: "I feel like I owe my life to the Friendship Circle, who I raised money for today. I feel like the volunteering I did for them was the reason why I'm still here.
"So this is another way I can give back to them. I'm pleased I did it, slightly disappointed [with the time], but pleased I got through it."
An inquest in February heard how Yoni was hit by a 'stray or deflected' police bullet while barricading the doors to the Middleton Road synagogue. Tragically, it was the same bullet which killed Adrian Daulby, who had also been barricading the doors to protect others inside.
Armed police had been called out to a terror attack by Jihad Al-Shamie, who fatally stabbed Melvin Cravitz, 66, outside the synagogue. The 35-year-old terrorist also stabbed volunteer security guard Andrew Franks, who survived, before being shot dead by armed officers at the scene.