45,000 brave elements to race own marathons
With the capital confined to elite athletes, runners from the UK and abroad took their own routes
More than 45,000 people all over the country braved torrential rain and high winds to take part in the 40th London Marathon yesterday. The race was due to take place on April 26 but was pushed back to Oct 4 due to the pandemic. The elite athletes raced in central London, completing 19.8 laps of a fenced-off course around St James’s Park, while elsewhere, thousands of amateur runners plotted their own routes, relying on socially distanced friends and family to cheer them on.
‘The atmosphere was better than I could have imagined. It’s been two years in the making, and it’s been quite a big effort to get here’
WHEN the Mcclean family arrived at Benone Beach on Sunday morning to begin running their virtual marathon, Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast was being battered by Storm Alex.
A determined bunch who were due to run the 26.2 miles while taking it in turns to push their 12-year- old son Ethan’s wheelchair, they soon realised that running on a beach that was being whipped by dangerous winds and lashing rain might be taking the challenge a step too far.
A swift relocation to a nearby park brought its own problems. “It started to flood because there’s a rather major river running through it,” said Yvette Mcclean, 43, who along with her 21-year-old daughter, Amie, was raising money for Muscular Dystrophy UK on behalf of Ethan, who was born with a severe form of the genetic disease. “It left us with a track of one and a half miles, so we’re just going to have to keep running up and down that now.
“I did the London Marathon in 2018 which was the year of the heatwave. From one extreme to the complete opposite!”
The Mccleans were among more than 45,000 people all over the country who braved torrential rain and high winds to t ake part in t he 40th London Marathon yesterday.
The annual race was due to take place on April 26 but was pushed back to Oct 4 due to the pandemic. It was decided only elite athletes would be permitted to race in central London, completing 19.8 laps of a fenced-off course in a “controlled secure biosphere” around St James’s Park, starting on Horse Guards Road and ending as usual on The Mall.
One hundred elite competitors and 500 event coordinators wore social distancing technology around their necks called the “Bump” device, which makes an audible alert when the wearer is too close to someone. Elsewhere, thousands of amateur runners plotted their own routes all over the country, relying on small groups of socially distanced friends and family to cheer them on through the rain. Louise Warburton, 36, was “gutted” when she found out she wouldn’t be able to race in London, but said the atmosphere near her home in Wigan was “better than I could have imagined”. “It’s been two years in the making, and it’s been quite a big effort to get here,” said Ms Warburton, who had been training since her mum Lynne died two years ago in the nearby hospice she raised money for. “Mum was in the local hospice, and she’d been in there for a while. The London Marathon was on TV and she just looked at me and said ‘You can do that for me next year’, and I kind of laughed it off at first but before I knew it I was signed up to do it in April this year.
Participants in 109 countries had 24 hours in which to complete the race, starting from 11.59pm UK time on Oct 3.
Each runner logged into an app which kept track of their time and the distance they had completed, meaning the race could be completed anywhere in the world.
The Duke of Sussex offered his support to runners in Los Angeles. Mark and Chudney Espiritu told how London Marathon organisers got in touch rather mysteriously to find out the backstory of why they had signed up to do the race.
“I told them about my cancer journey, my sudden urge to take care of myself, how running just changed my life for the better,” Mrs Espiritu wrote on Instagram.
“I also mentioned that I decided to still run the virtual marathon because it is their 40th and it is my 40th too.”
They were told an ambassador for the marathon wanted to meet them. Little did they know it was the Duke. “I will never forget this day,” she said.
In Windsor, the Countess of Wessex also did her bit, running the first 1.5 miles of the Mencap running team’s virtual race on the Long Walk.
The charity – of which she has been a patron since 2004 – was the marathon’s official charity partner for 2020.
June and Tina Fallon were among several runners completing a route in the pouring rain at the Wrekin beauty spot in Shropshire.
They ran in memory of their son and brother Craig, who was found there 15 months ago, having taken his own life. Mr Fallon, who was 36, remains the last British man to be crowned world judo champion.
A double Olympian, he was considered Britain’s finest even judoka.
Craig’s sister Tina, who was raising funds in his memory for Mind, said: “I hope Craig would have been super proud, especially of my mum. She’s never ran or walked this distance and she’s smashed the 26.2 miles.
“We’ve been pretty damp and you never get that atmosphere from London anywhere else, but it ’s been really good.”