But for everyone who was still at the finish line when the clocked ticked over to four hours and 53 seconds, the real winner was Fred Pham, 47, a former Fairfield High School maths teacher.

His is an inspiring and uplifting story of a man who helped encourage family, friends and former students of his to raise more than $40,000 for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

Mr Pham is living proof that miracles do happen.

In July last year he was told he had three months to live.

He was diagnosed with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma news which naturally devastated his wife Hong and their five children, Francis, 16, Terence,14, Vivianne, 9, Michelle, 7, and Datrisha,6.

Knowing his time was limited, he was determined to fulfil a lifelong dream of running in the City2Surf.

And just as he had done on his journey to Australia in 1977 from Vietnam, during which he escaped death on a boat from Malaysia to Thailand, he had to overcome adversity.

His mother died two weeks before the City2Surf and so seemingly disappeared his dream of passing the finish line and helping raise money to help find a cure so other families don't have to go through the same heartbreak -a dream that had to endure two major surgeries, radiation therapy and three unsuccessful chemotherapies.

``I thought I was going to make it,'' Mr Pham said. ``My mother's funeral was on Monday and it had a huge impact on me physically and mentally. I couldn't sleep or eat. But I promised Mum I would fight to stay alive and fight to help my children, so I prayed that I would make the finish line and help raise as much money as I could.''

When he crossed the line, flanked by nearly 60 supporters, he knelt down and kissed the ground. He survived Heartbreak Hill from Rose Bay to Vaucluse but he knows he can't survive the heartbreak of not seeing his children grow up.

``To leave my young family is going to be a tremendously heartbreaking experience but before I complete my journey in this life I wish to contribute to this wonderful society and this fantastic country,'' Mr Pham said.

``I want to thank everyone who's donated money. Every bit helps and, hopefully, one day they'll find a cure for cancer. I can't believe I finished the race but whether it was 14kilometres or 14metres I just wanted to take it one step at a time and I was lucky to have a lot of people supporting me.''