The inaugural London marathon took place in 1981. It’s an extremely popular race and is always massively over subscribed. The event is watched by millions of TV viewers every year and is the largest charity event outside of America. In this, the 42nd event, more than 40,000 runners took part. The London marathon course has remained largely unchanged since it was first run and encompasses many of the capital’s most mesmerising landmarks, old and new. Starting in Greenwich Park, the route takes its competitors on a tour around England’s capital. It begins in the South East of the city in a slightly elevated area but then drops about 150 feet before the 4 mile mark near Woolwich and is almost entirely flat for the rest of the way except for a smallish hill that begins just before the 19.5 mile mark. After weaving around Rotherhithe, it passes over the river Thames at Tower Bridge and heads along to Canary Wharfe and the Isle of Dogs. Runners then begin the home stretch which follows the river on the North Bank past the Tower of London, London Bridge, Blackfriars, Big Ben and other landmarks before veering up towards Buckingham Palace and the finish at the Mall. For four decades the event has had a consumer-facing brand as its sponsor, from Gillette and Mars in the 1980’s to the more recent Flora and Virgin Money. This year it is rebranding as the TCS London Marathon as part of a six-year contract with the world’s biggest IT company. This will be the fourth successive year that the London marathon has been held in October rather than its traditional April date. Interesting fact’s from past events; In 2021 30 new records were set, including Julian Rendall who ran 02:51:04 dressed in pyjamas. Meanwhile, Peter Butler-Jones set a record for the fastest marathon run wearing a pair of wellington boots 02:56:28 and Kristina Kucar ran 03:15:53 wearing a pair of handcuffs. Again this year there was no shortage of world record attempts as an array of costumed runners wound their way around the course dressed in attire from crumpets to gorillas!
Eccleshill Road Runners battling the heat as well ad the distance on what was actually forecasted to be a day filled with rain showers were: Martin Steele 5:23:20; Sarah Myers 5:15:23; Claire Hern 3:35:14; Tony Redmond – well done Eccleshill – you are all amazing! Big thanks to the support crew dashing around the course to support our runners.
