50 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 circled 19.6 times on 4 October 2020 with spectators locked out, the mass race cancelled and 30 elites per sex invited. A final 1,345 m used the usual finishing straight.

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

£87 million was collected at the 2025 race alone, lifting the event's lifetime charity total past £1.4 billion. Most runners hold charity places and commit to a minimum fundraising sum.

How much did rower Steve Redgrave raise through the 2006 London Marathon, then a Guinness record for a marathon?

£1.8m beat the £1.25m mark set a year earlier by Oasis Trust founder Steve Chalke, who took the record back in 2007 and raised it to £2.32m in 2011. The race is the world's biggest annual one-day fundraiser.

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

Gillette put its name on the race from 1981 for three editions; Mars, ADT and NutraSweet followed before longer deals with a margarine brand and a bank.

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 dry-docked tea clipper do London Marathon runners pass in Greenwich just after the 10 km mark?

Cutty Sark comes just after the Old Royal Naval College at 6.2 miles, one of the first great crowd points on the course. The route then heads into Deptford and Surrey Quays.

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

The Observer, where Brasher was sports editor, ran the piece weeks after he finished the American race that inspired him. Within 16 months London staged its own marathon.

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.

What time did Kelvin Kiptum run for his 2023 London course record, 16 seconds outside the then world record?

2:01:25 was 72 seconds faster than Eliud Kipchoge's course best, and Kiptum ran the fastest second half ever, winning by nearly three minutes. He died in a car crash ten 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 in on the lap course and stayed clear, a year after her 2019 win. She went on to win the Tokyo Marathon in 2021 and 2026.

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

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.

Who remains the most recent British man to win the London Marathon, outsprinting Mexico's Isidro Rico in 1993?

Eamonn Martin clocked 2:10:50 in a sprint finish, and no British man has won in the three decades since. His son was born that same year.

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

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, whose best was 2:08:30, is also the only Mexican to win Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race. He ran the Olympic marathon in 1992 and 1996.

Who set a men's world record of 2:05:38 at the 2002 London Marathon?

Khalid Khannouchi's 2002 run remains the only men's world record set at London before 2026; he had become a US citizen in 2000 after moving to Brooklyn in 1992.

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 has since won London again in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and took five Paralympic golds in Paris in 2024. She won every event she entered at the 2025 World Championships.

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 first London win months after two Commonwealth golds on the Gold Coast. She also won the delayed Tokyo Paralympic marathon.

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 weighing about 130 lb later took Scott six days around the 2012 Olympic course too; his 2002 London crossing came after he survived chronic myeloid leukaemia. He had raised over £5m by 2011.

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

About 1,130,000 (1,133,813 exactly) applied, beating the 840,318 for 2025; the ballot for 2027 then topped 1.3m. Ballot success was already estimated at under 3% in 2024.

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 2025 had held the mark; London itself set the previous record with 56,640 in 2025. A two-day event for 2027 has since been confirmed.

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

The Ever Presents are a dwindling club: at the 2019 race the oldest was 85-year-old Kenneth Jones and the youngest, Chris Finill, was 60.

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 the corporation has held the domestic rights ever since. The earliest editions were not shown in full.

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.

At the 2024 London Marathon, 76-year-old Jeannie Rice set a 75–79 age-group world record of what time?

3:33:27 at 76 is a pace most runners half her age would envy; the same 2024 race saw Julie McElroy become the first female frame runner to finish a London Marathon.

In which year did the London Marathon first stage wheelchair races, won by Gordon Perry and Denise Smith?

1983's races, won in 3:20:07 and 4:29:03, were credited with reducing the stigma around disabled athletes; Perry returned to start the wheelchair races in 2023.

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.