Ms Voigt was invited to attend the Great Manchester Run held on May 18, to present awards in honour of her Olympian grandfather, Emil Voigt.

The Great Manchester Run is a 10km running race similar to Sydney’s City to Surf, and organised by events company Nova International.

Ms Voigt’s grandfather was a gold medal winner in the five mile race at the 1908 London Olympics, before he emigrated to Australia in 1911.

“I had the most amazing trip to Manchester,” Ms Voigt said.

“My grandfather Emil is still considered a hometown hero there and there was great interest in his story because of the way he won the gold medal against all odds.

“They set up a five-mile point in the race to see who could better my grandfather’s time of 100 years ago.

“Less than 50 people managed that feat despite the special running gear and all the modern training methods etc.”

All the runners who managed to beat Mr Voigt’s time were awarded a certificate deigned and presented by Ms Voigt.

During her stay in Manchester, Ms Voigt attracted national media attention.

“Manchester City Council and Nova International organised the trip for me and I was treated like a celebrity myself,” she said.

“I was interviewed on regional BBC TV and radio, attended a press conference at the Town Hall and Emil’s story was in the papers too.”

On the same day, she was then taken to Manchester Central Library to meet the Mayor and see a special display about her grandfather, which was filmed by a BBC National crew who had come up from London.

Librarians gathered together old newspaper stories on her grandfather, photos of him and the various houses

he had lived in, old street maps and census papers.

“I previously had no knowledge of whether Emil had family there in Manchester,” she said. “But they were

able to tell me he had a brother and who my great-grandparents were, and I now know I have a Scottish and German background.”

A story on Mrs Voigt and her grandfather’s story was run in the May 7 edition of the Hawkesbury Gazette, prior to her trip to the UK.

While in Manchester, relatives Mrs Voigt did not know existed made contact with her, after seeing her story in the British press and on the Hawkesbury Gazette website.

“On my last day in Manchester a woman by the name of Barbara Voigt and her daughter Julie came into the library to try and track me down,” she said.

“They even wrote to the Hawkesbury Gazette to ask to be put in contact with me.

“Unfortunately I didn’t manage to meet them... but we did have a long talk (by phone) and exchange contact details.

“I’ve discovered I have a huge family of distant cousins there, something like 17 third cousins.”

Ms Voigt hopes to meet her relatives in the future, and is planning a return visit to Manchester.