London Marathon

LONDON MARATHON

The traffic in central London grinds to a standstill on the day of the London Marathon and it is advisable to avoid the area entirely if trying to cross the city by road. The course of the race neatly dissects London in half, never straying too distant from the river Thames and the road closures divide the north of the city from the south for much of the day. Many forget that the race is taking place and wonder why they haven’t moved three car lengths in half an hour, only to then witness the heart sinking reminder of half-bent competitors wandering away aimlessly from the finishing post, gasping for air and wrapped in foil capes emblazoned with the race sponsors’ logos.

Of course, tens of thousands deliberately head to the circuit, to cheer on the runners from the sides of the roads from Blackheath, where the race starts, to The Mall where it finishes. There are twenty-six miles and three hundred and eighty five yards of asphalt on which to stand and encourage the often wilting figures. Many of them are barely able to manage a modest trot as they pass by, dreaming of reaching the finishing post alive.  Regrettably, some indeed do not, as there have been nine fatalities since the first London Marathon, despite the superlative medical support provided by the St John Ambulance volunteers.

By dropping dead, those nine competitors met the same fate as the fabled Greek soldier Pheidippides. The herald collapsed and died from exhaustion after announcing Greek victory over Persia at the Battle Of Marathon in 490 B.C. He ran the twenty-six miles to Athens from the battlefield and on arrival uttered the famous words, ‘we have won’ before expiring and thereby provided the inspiration for our modern day competitive marathons.

The London Marathon dates to 1981 and it is considered one of the five ‘World Marathon Majors.’ It is the only marathon in the world to be run in both hemispheres, as it criss-crosses the Greenwich Meridian along its route. Modeled on the New York marathon, the 2010 race was its thirtieth running. In the early races the top athletes would cross the finishing line hand in hand, but now it is a highly competitive race with fast times. The quickest finishing time in the men’s race is two hours, five minutes and thirty-eight seconds, achieved by Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. This was just a couple of minutes off the world record of two hours, three minutes and fifty-nine seconds. In the women’s race, the fastest time is held by Paula Radcliffe who managed two hours, fifteen minutes and twenty-five seconds in 2003. In the London Wheelchair Marathon the record is set by Kurt Fearnley who achieved the finish in one hour, twenty-eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds. In the women’s wheelchair race the record is one hour, forty-eight minutes and four seconds, set by Sandra Graf.

The mostly flat course, which is seldom above sea level, benefits those who originate from countries with high altitude. Since 2003 the men’s winner has come from a country with thin air and each has prospered from lungfuls of London's dense oxygen filled atmosphere. Despite this, since the inception of the London Marathon, when all the different categories are combined, there have been more victories by British competitors than of any other nationality. The first marathon had a lowly 6747 competitors but to date well over 700,000 people have run the race since inception.
120,000 people applied for the 2010 race and 37,527 started with approximately 36,000 expected to cross the finishing line. There was a fight to get all the key runners to the 2010 race, as the marathon fell just days after an aviation ban was lifted, arising from ash clouds from an Icelandic volcanic eruption. In particular, key competitors from Kenya and Ethiopia literally had ‘marathon’ journeys to reach the United Kingdom, travelling by land, air and sea.

The organisers of the London Marathon state with some confidence that the occasion is the largest annual fundraising event in the world. Across the four compass points, the British are renowned for their generosity and deep-pocketed goodwill when donating money for charity. Well over three hundred million pounds have been raised since the London Marathon’s inception, with eighty per cent of runners arranging sponsorship. Partakers often see their fundraising as being as much of an achievement as the run itself. Nevertheless, the moments after crossing the finishers’ line, clutching the competitors medal and being photographed by adoring family members is said to be euphoric, especially for those who prepared with many months of training.

Many of those collecting money run in ludicrous fancy dress, which helps to draw attention, sometimes television coverage, to their charitable causes. The highlight one year was an Indiana Jones being chased by a giant rock. In 2002, the world record for the slowest time was broken by a ‘runner’ inside a deep sea diving suit. He was to be seen dragging the weighty outfit around for many days afterwards, plodding his route over the twenty-six miles and making welcome pauses for photographs alongside suited office workers. His outfit is now on display in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, with his entry number still attached.

The runners have much to look at along the way, as when they reach the six mile mark they see the Old Royal Naval College and the other sights of ancient Greenwich. They cross over Tower Bridge towards the Tower of London at the halfway point and enter the Isle of Dogs, running beneath the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. Towards the end of the race, they see the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral before reaching the Victoria Embankment (see earlier blog: ‘Embankment’) with views of The London Eye and Big Ben. At the finish they pass Buckingham Palace and mostly collapse into a heap on The Mall, alongside St James’s Palace.
The 2010 London Marathon Results: The men's race was won by the Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 18 seconds. The Russian Liliya Shobukhova won the women's race in 2 hours and 22 minutes. The men's wheelchair race was won by Josh Cassidy in 1 hour, 34 minutes and 21 seconds. Wakako Tsuchida won the women's wheelchair race in 1 hour, 52 minutes and 33 seconds.

Where to view London Marathon and video clips of London
London in motion has some of the best London Stock Footage and London Library Footage with moving clips of many of the above mentioned places to see, are available to browse through by simply visiting the ‘London Marathon’ category of this website.  New additions of London video clips are being frequently uploaded and further categories will be appearing over the coming months.