On your marks, wherever you may be, for this year’s remote London Marathon

Virtual crowd app to cheer participants on around the world, while elite athletes do laps of St James’s Park

LONDON Marathon runners will receive medals if they complete the race remotely this year, organisers confirmed as they launched an app to mimic spectators cheering.

This year’s marathon can be completed from anywhere in the world. The 45,000 registered participants can complete the 26.2 miles on a course of their choice while elite runners will compete at St James’s Park.

Numbers will still be worn, a specially downloadable app will be created to provide race music and support, and runners will be given from midnight to 23.59pm on Sunday Oct 4 to complete the distance. Finishers will receive the coveted medal and T-shirt and entrants will be offered entry for the London Marathon in 2021, 2022 or 2023.

Entries this year will be reopened to replace those who choose not to compete, so the 45,000 capacity is unchanged and fundraising is maximised.

Hugh Brasher, the race director, called it a day of “sadness and certainty”, but said the move would provide unprecedented accessibility to an event that was once again oversubscribed.

“People can do it in a uniquely personal way,” he said. “Yes, the experience will be different, but actually we really hope it will be more memorable, more enduring and the most inclusive London Marathon in history.”

Around 750,000 spectators line the London Marathon route, and although Covid-secure plans for social distancing with staggered starts had been considered, the sheer numbers made holding the run impossible. Bluetooth technology and ultra-wideband ranging would have even allowed organisers to monitor every participant’s distance from each other and trace any contacts if there were positive Covid-19 tests over the subsequent two weeks.

But, Mr Brasher said: “The biggest challenges were not those involving participants but the multiple issues of managing spectators, ensuring the emergency services had access across London, the increased likelihood of a second spike that has led to the recent cancellation of spectator trials at major events, and the ongoing concern about the pressure even a reduced-size marathon might put on the NHS.”

The elite-only race will be staged without fans on a secure loop around St James’s Park that is just over two kilometres long, meaning the runners will have to complete 19.8 circuits before leaving for the usual finish in The Mall.

Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei, the men’s and women’s world recordholding marathon runners, have been confirmed for the elite races as well as David Weir, who has won the wheelchair race eight times.