Almost £370,000 has been donated to The Samaritans in tribute to Claire Squires, the young woman who tragically died 25 miles into the London Marathon on Sunday.

It was revealed that Claire had been running memory of her brother, who died in 2001 from a drug overdose and that Claire was donating her sponsorship money to the same organisation that her mother has volunteered with for 24 years.

It is not yet known why Claire collapsed just 1.2 miles from the finishing line. Having completed the marathon in 2010 and climbing Kilimanjaro last year, Claire was far from unfit. An investigation into her death is expected to begin this week.

As news of Claire death was spread on the news and social networking sites donation began to pour into the website page on JustGiving that Claire was using to accept donations. Since her death, less than 48 hours ago, over 20,000 people have made a donation. Many have donated small amounts of jut £5 or £10 but the donations have accumulated to almost half a million and are still rising.

A spokesperson from The Samaritans has spoken about the sadness at Claire’s death and have said they have yet made no decision about how the donation will be spent, but they have aid that it is most important task is to maintain the standards it already keeps.

Donations can still be made at www.justgiving.com/Claire-Squires2