Heartwarming moment two strangers finish marathon together holding hands

The two women finished the marathon in last place after seven hours. Photo / Facebook

The moment two complete strangers finished the Pittsburgh Marathon together, in last place, holding hands, has gone viral.

Laura Mazur from Ohio and Jessica Robertson from Pennsylvania met halfway along the course of the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday.

The two women were the last two runners on the course and quickly formed a strong bond, determined to help each other finish the race.

"I looked back to see if I was the last one and found another racer and a new friend," Mazur said on Facebook. "I told her I'd stay with her if she stayed with me."

Despite their own personal struggle, they refused to let each other quit.

Daniel Heckert, a runner who had finished the half marathon, spotted Mazur and Robertson approaching the cheer station in the last couple of kilometres, hand-in-hand.

Final runners in Pittsburgh Marathon finish race hand-in-hand

HAND-IN-HAND: Laura Mazur and Jessica Robertson were strangers when the Pittsburgh Marathon began, but 7 hours, 22 minutes, later they completed the race holding hands, the final two runners to cross the finish line, with their image going viral and the pair linked for life. David Muir reports. #AmericaStrong https://abcn.ws/2vPLsti

Posted by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Thursday, 9 May 2019

"I just ran over to grab my phone as they were coming," he told CBS Pittsburgh.

"I just wanted to capture the moment that showed these two ladies were going to finish the same race that [the] winner did."

His video quickly went viral on Facebook.

It took the two women seven hours and 22 minutes to finish the marathon and they came absolute last - but they never gave up.

The marathon announcer thanked them for "being an inspiration to all of us".

It was Mazur's 12th marathon and Robertson's first. They say they are now "life-long friends".

"It wasn't about gender, it wasn't about race, it wasn't about religion - none of that mattered," Robertson told CBS Pittsburgh.

"We were just two individuals, two humans, who had a goal in mind and we leaned on each other to get there."