London to host biggest marathon in history with 100,000 runners in record-breaking October event

Marathon time: This year’s event in London is set to break the world record for the number of competitors
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This year’s London Marathon is set to be the biggest ever staged in the world, with 100,000 runners lining up for the event on October 3.

Marathon bosses have opened up 50,000 places for the mass participation race itself, from Blackheath to The Mall, with an additional 50,000 virtual places.

The combined number would comfortably eclipse the 52,812 people who finished the 2018 New York Marathon, the current record for a marathon, and London Marathon race director Hugh Brasher said the event in the capital would be key to bringing the city and the wider UK out of the Covid gloom.

“We talked last year about the London Marathon being a beacon of light in a really dark tunnel,” he told Standard Sport. “It’s been a horrible 10 months and we’re still in a horrible period but, in a world where the whole population will potentially be vaccinated by September, it does give people hope.

“We hope this encourages people to go out for that piece of exercise. And, as the name suggests, this is the London Marathon so it can only happen with Londoners’ support. We hope it’s a great moment people can look forward to.”

Last year’s London Marathon, scheduled for April, was postponed until October, with only the elite element of the race going ahead through a revised course of laps around St James’ Park. Brigid Kosgei won the women’s event while Shura Kitata took the men’s title as the greatest marathon runner of all-time, Eliud Kipchoge, had a rare off-day.

But a first virtual London Marathon still took place alongside the elite format, with 37,966 finishing the course in a 24-hour window, which was on Thursday ratified by the Guinness World Records as a record for the most users to run a remote marathon in 24 hours.

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And Brasher is confident he can lure back the biggest names in marathon running to the 2021 event despite the race taking place just eight weeks after the Olympic marathons in Tokyo.

“Normally the question is whether they want to do our race just three months before the Olympics so it’s no different, you’ve just reversed it. We’re going to have the top athletes coming back, absolutely.”

The door has also been left wide open for Sir Mo Farah, who after pacemaking at last year’s London Marathon has returned to training for the 10,000metres in Tokyo, before a potential switch back to road racing later in 2021 and beyond.

“Mo is just this incredible athlete,” added Brasher. “He did an amazing job last year helping the Brits qualify. He paced them to 30 kilometres and didn’t need to go that far but he just loved doing it.

“We’d always love to have Mo doing it, who wouldn’t? Sir Mo Farah, Britain’s greatest runner that there ever has been, possibly the world’s. We’re going to look forward to welcoming him back in October. It’s not something we’re talking about at the moment but we would always welcome him back to this race.” 

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