49 Fun Facts About London Marathon

Who became the first person to run a marathon under two hours in a record-eligible race, at London in 2026?

Sabastian Sawe clocked 1:59:30 on 26 April 2026, and runner-up Yomif Kejelcha also dipped under two hours in 1:59:41. Third-placed Jacob Kiplimo beat the old world record too.

Which Thames crossing marks the halfway point, reached after runners race along Jamaica Road?

Tower Bridge is where competitors reach half-way after Bermondsey, before heading east through Wapping toward Docklands. A cobbled stretch near the Tower of London was once carpeted to protect runners.

Runners leave Birdcage Walk past Buckingham Palace to finish the London Marathon on which road?

The final 352 m (385 yards) run from Birdcage Walk past Buckingham Palace into The Mall, a stretch that also formed part of the 2012 Olympic marathon course. The London Eye comes into view on the Embankment a mile earlier.

The elite-only 2020 London Marathon was run as 19.6 laps of 2.15 km circling which royal green space?

St James's Park was closed to spectators on 4 October 2020 so the athletes could race inside a biosecure bubble, before a final 1,345 m along the usual finishing straight.

Roughly how much did 2025 London Marathon runners raise for charity, then a record for a one-day fundraising event?

£87 million was raised at the 2025 race alone, almost £14 million more than the year before, lifting the total since 1981 to £1.4 billion.

Which Olympic rowing champion raised a then-record £1.8 million by running the 2006 London Marathon?

Steve Redgrave's total beat the £1.25 million raised a year earlier by Oasis Trust founder Steve Chalke, who had reclaimed the record and pushed it past £2.3 million by 2011.

Which razor brand was the London Marathon's first title sponsor, backing the first three editions?

Gillette was lined up by West Nally, a sports marketing agency asked to find a backer for the first race in 1981, and stayed for three editions before Mars took over in 1984.

Since 2022 the London Marathon has carried the name of which Indian technology giant as its title sponsor?

Tata Consultancy Services was announced in 2021 as successor to a banking sponsor whose name had fronted the race since 2010. The event is now billed as the TCS London Marathon.

The London Marathon's colour-coded red, green and blue starts sit around which heath, 35 m above sea level?

Blackheath's starts feed a route that heads east through Charlton first, so the opening miles run away from the city before turning toward the river. The red start is in Greenwich Park on Charlton Way.

Which historic ship do London Marathon runners pass in Greenwich just after the 10 km mark?

Cutty Sark, a dry-docked tea clipper, comes just after the Old Royal Naval College. The ship was badly damaged by fire in 2007 and reopened to the public in 2012.

Which newspaper printed Chris Brasher's 1979 article hailing a marathon as 'the greatest folk festival'?

The Observer, where Brasher had been sports editor, ran the piece soon after he finished the American race that inspired him, and London staged its own marathon in March 1981.

Co-founder John Disley, a 1952 Olympic steeplechase medallist, was Britain's leading pioneer of which sport?

Orienteering was championed by Disley, who raced at the 1966 World Championships, and by his co-founder, who gave the sport its first public mention in a 1957 column. Disley also set five British steeplechase records.

Where did the inaugural 1981 London Marathon finish, before building works forced a move the following year?

Constitution Hill saw 6,255 finishers in 1981; from 1982 the line sat on Westminster Bridge for twelve years before moving to its present home in 1994.

In 2005 the London Marathon's loop around which area was switched from clockwise to anti-clockwise?

Isle of Dogs runners now circle Mudchute and Canary Wharf the other way round between 22 and 34 km; the same year the route was diverted off the cobbles near the Tower of London.

Which Kenyan won the 2023 London Marathon in 2:01:25, then the second-fastest marathon in history?

Kelvin Kiptum finished 16 seconds outside the world record and 72 seconds inside Eliud Kipchoge's course best, then broke the world record itself in Chicago six months later.

Which former 800 m specialist won the 2025 London women's race in 2:15:50, then a women-only world record?

Tigst Assefa, who ran the 800 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, returned in 2026 and lowered her own women-only mark to 2:15:41. Her 2023 Berlin time of 2:11:53 was a mixed-race world record.

Which Tokyo Olympic champion won the 2024 London Marathon in 2:16:16, breaking the women-only world record?

Peres Jepchirchir had failed to finish her 2015 London debut and placed third in 2023 before winning in 2024. Her women-only record lasted just one year.

Which track star won the 2023 London women's race on her marathon debut despite twice stopping with a hip problem?

Sifan Hassan pulled up after an hour, stopped again to stretch her quadriceps, then caught the leaders after 30 km to win in 2:18:33. She even nearly missed a drinks station near the end.

Who retained her London Marathon title at the elite-only 2020 race, winning by more than 3 minutes?

Brigid Kosgei broke away 18 miles into the lap course and stayed clear, a year after her 2019 win, while American Sara Hall snatched second place in the last 150 m.

Which Kenyan won the women's race at the 2018 London Marathon, the hottest then on record at 24.1 °C?

Vivian Cheruiyot won in 2:18:31 while the men's winner, on world-record pace early, faded to 2:04:17 in the heat. The 2018 day also produced a new British men's record in third place.

Which Ethiopian won the 2020 London sprint finish as Eliud Kipchoge, nursing a blocked ear, came eighth?

Shura Kitata outsprinted Vincent Kipchumba in 2:05:41, handing Kipchoge his first marathon defeat since 2013. Kitata had finished second to him in London in 2018.

Who won the 2021 men's race, the first London Marathon run in October on the traditional course?

Sisay Lemma won in 2:04:01 on 3 October 2021, when 40,000 ran the course and another 40,000 completed a virtual race. He had been third on the 2020 lap circuit.

Which Ethiopian became London's youngest-ever women's winner in 2022 despite falling with 10 km to go?

Yalemzerf Yehualaw, then 23, won in 2:17:26 at the last of the pandemic-shifted autumn editions, beating the defending champion by 41 seconds.

Who pulled away from Kenenisa Bekele in the final kilometres to win the 2024 London Marathon?

Alexander Mutiso Munyao won in 2:04:01, matching the 2021 winning time to the second, after dropping the Ethiopian great over the last three kilometres.

Whose 2017 London win in 2:17:01 stood as the women-only world record for seven years?

Mary Keitany also won in 2011 and 2012, and her 2017 mark survived until 2024. In 2019 the leaders passed 15 km four minutes slower than her record pace.

Which Norwegian's 1985 London Marathon win in 2:21:06 stood as the women's world record for 13 years?

Ingrid Kristiansen won London four times and took the record from Joan Benoit's 2:22:43; her 1987 attempt to lower it faded to 2:22:48. She also set world records at 5,000 m and 10,000 m.

Which Briton won the first two London Marathon women's races, in 1981 and 1982, the second aged 44?

Joyce Smith's 2:29:57 in 1981 made her the first British woman under 2:30, and her 1982 win at 44 years 195 days remains the oldest by a London champion. She ran the 1984 Olympic marathon at 46.

Who won the 1985 London Marathon men's race in 2:08:16 despite a mid-race toilet stop?

Steve Jones claimed he hadn't even trained for the race, six months after a world record 2:08:05 in his first completed marathon in Chicago. He coached himself throughout.

As of 2026, who is the most recent British man to win the London Marathon, outsprinting Mexico's Isidro Rico in 1993?

Eamonn Martin won in 2:10:50 on his marathon debut, outkicking Rico in a sprint finish, and no British man had won the race again by 2026.

Which 1984 London Marathon winner took Olympic bronze that summer, Britain's last Olympic marathon medal as of 2024?

Charlie Spedding finished two seconds behind silver medallist John Treacy in Los Angeles, the first British Olympic marathon medal in 20 years. He ran 2:08:33 for second in London in 1985.

Which Mexican won the London Marathon men's race three years running, from 1994 to 1996?

Dionicio Cerón failed to finish the 1992 Olympic marathon, yet as of 2026 he was still the only man to win London's elite men's race three years in a row.

Which Kenyan set a 2:04:29 course record in 2014, two years after his first London Marathon title?

Wilson Kipsang's 2012 win had missed Emmanuel Mutai's course record by four seconds; he took Olympic bronze in London that summer. He later won Tokyo in 2017.

Who, born with a spinal cord transection, has won the London Marathon men's wheelchair race eight times?

David Weir first won in 2002, the year Jenny Archer became his coach, and took his eighth title in 2018. As a boy he won the mini wheelchair race seven times.

Which Swiss racer nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet' set a men's wheelchair course record of 1:23:44 in 2023?

Marcel Hug, named for his silver helmet, won every London edition from 2021 to 2026, eight in all by then. He was born with spina bifida and grew up on a farm.

Who won London's 2022 women's wheelchair race a week after winning Berlin on her marathon debut?

Catherine Debrunner set a course record of 1:38:24 that day in only her second marathon, and has since won London again in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Which Swiss racer's 2019 London win was one leg of a clean sweep of all six World Marathon Majors that year?

Manuela Schär dropped the field about 30 minutes in and won in 1:44:09. She also won London in 2017 and 2021 and has taken Berlin seven times.

Which Australian won the 2018 London women's wheelchair race with a last-dash sprint, then won again in 2023?

Madison de Rozario clocked 1:42:58 in 2018, a surprise win a week after taking two golds at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and the first by an Australian in the women's wheelchair race.

Which American's 2013 London wheelchair win came in a year she also won the Boston and Chicago marathons?

Tatyana McFadden, born in Russia, defended her London title in 2014 in a course record just weeks after racing at the Sochi Winter Paralympics. She won again in 2015 and 2016.

Which 20-year-old American won the 2019 London men's wheelchair race by pulling clear in the last kilometre?

Daniel Romanchuk's 1:33:38 also made him World Para Athletics marathon champion, the title doubling up with the race that year. He had been third in London in 2018.

Whose 2009 London Marathon men's wheelchair course record of 1:28:57 survived until 2021?

Kurt Fearnley, an Australian who once crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair, took two Paralympic golds in Athens in 2004. His London mark fell in 2021.

Lloyd Scott, a former goalkeeper and leukaemia survivor, finished the 2002 London Marathon wearing what?

A deep-sea diving suit with lead boots held Scott to roughly four and a half miles a day, making his the slowest London Marathon then recorded. He had raised over £5 million for charity by 2011.

Roughly how many people entered the ballot for the 2026 London Marathon, then a record for any marathon?

About 1.1 million people applied for 2026, up from roughly 840,000 a year earlier and 410,000 three years before, so most were left disappointed.

The 2026 London Marathon's 59,830 finishers set a Guinness record, beating which city's 2025 race?

New York City's 59,226 finishers in November 2025 had taken the record from London, whose 56,640 that April had itself beaten New York's 2024 total.

What name is given to the small band of runners who have finished each London Marathon since 1981?

The Ever Presents numbered 42 when first recognised in 1995 and were down to five after the 2026 race. The youngest, Chris Finill, ran all of them from 1981 to 2013 in under three hours.

Which broadcaster has covered every London Marathon since 1981 and shown the race live in full since 1984?

BBC coverage began with the first race in 1981, and its theme tune was written for The Trap, a 1966 film about a Canadian fur trapper starring Oliver Reed.

Which margarine brand's name fronted the London Marathon for fourteen years, from 1996 to 2009?

Flora's 14-year run ended when a bank took over from 2010 under a five-year £17m deal signed in 2008. Mars and ADT had held the title before it.

Whose 2:15:25 at the 2003 London Marathon still stood as the women's course record in 2026?

Paula Radcliffe set it in a mixed race with male pacemakers, so in 2011 the sport's governing body voted to downgrade it to a 'world best', then reversed course after protests.

The first London Marathon men's race in 1981 ended with what unusual result?

A deliberate tie: American Dick Beardsley and Norway's Inge Simonsen crossed the line holding hands in 2:11:48 and were declared joint winners of a race that 6,255 people finished.

Which bank brand became London Marathon title sponsor from 2010 after signing a five-year £17m deal in 2008?

Virgin Money renewed in April 2013 for a further five years, and the race carried its name until 2021. Its giving platform also lent its name to the junior race.