Top athletes to prep for unprecedented London Marathon in 'biosecure bubble' at secret location near capital

Mo Farah runs during the 2019 London Marathon
Getty Images

More than 100 of the world’s leading athletes will complete their final preparations for an unprecedented staging of the London Marathon in a “biosecure bubble” at a secret location close to the capital.

Organisers have booked all the rooms at a hotel set in 40 acres of grounds for the participants to stay in during the run-up to the October 4 race.

Details of the extraordinary preparations to allow the 40th Virgin Money London Marathon to go ahead — albeit in a drastically slimmed down form — were revealed today by race director Hugh Brasher.

The mass participation run through the streets of London was postponed from April, then abandoned entirely because of the pandemic.

Instead, about 100 of the world’s fastest athletes — plus 16 pacers — will complete 19.6 clockwise laps of St James’s Park ending with the traditional finish on The Mall.

St. James's Park Lake
Alamy Stock Photo

Operations director Andrew Smith said: “We’re the only marathon in the world that has been able to pull this off and we’re incredibly proud of that.” Under special protocols agreed with the Government, athletes must all be tested in their own country four days before arriving at the hotel, up to a week before race day.

They will be allocated a bedroom each and be required to maintain social distancing while training in the grounds. They must wear masks except while training, eating or in their rooms. Testing will continue at the hotel until the Friday before the race. All staff at the hotel will also be tested for the virus.

On the Sunday, the competitors will be taken in coaches to the athletes’ village in another secure bubble in St James’s Park. All construction and race staff at the village will be temperature-tested and wear full PPE.

Public access to the park will be restricted from Thursday to Sunday. It will not be closed completely but no spectators will be allowed to watch the race as the course will be screened off.

London Marathon 2019 - In pictures

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The male and female defending champions and world record holders, Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei of Kenya, will both return, as will the two top marathon wheelchair athletes in the world: Daniel Romanchuk of America and Switzerland’s Manuela Schar. The pacers will include Sir Mo Farah.

Mr Brasher said: “We are confident we have created the safest environment possible for everyone. We’re delighted to be able to put on an event that we think will live long in people’s memories. It will show the world what London and Britain does best.”

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