Record breakers revealed as we count down to London Marathon
44th
staging of the legendary 26.2 mile London Marathon takes place on Sunday, April 21.
90
– David Picksley’s age when he finished last year’s marathon, the oldest of the 48,000 entrants, in a time of 7:16:46. In 2002 Jenny Wood-Allen became the oldest female finisher when she clocked 11:34:00.
1981
– Year of the first London Marathon. More than 21,872 runners applied, but due to safety reasons only 7,741 runners crossed the start line and 6,255 finished.
6
Days it took Michael Watson to walk the course in 2003. The former boxer had been told he would never be able to walk again after a fight with Chris Eubank.
2
– Winners of the first marathon in 1981, American Dick Beardsley (pictured top) and Norwegian Inge Simonsen (pictured above) crossing the finishing line hand-in-hand in 2:11:48.
14
– Combined wheelchair wins for David Weir (8) (pictured below), and Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson (6), (pictured bottom).
1983
– First year that male and female wheelchair races were introduced, with Britain’s Gordon Perry and Denise Smith winning.
2:05:38 – Khalid Khannouchi’s winning time in 2002 – the only time the men’s World record has been broken in London.
£66.4m
– amount raised for charity in the 2019 London Marathon, a word record for an annual one-day fundraising event. Last year’s event raised £63m.
2:01:25
– The new course record time set last year by Kelvin Kiptum, (pictured right), who sadly passed away in February this year in a car accident in his native Kenya. 16
– Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 victory was the 16th time in the last 21 years that a Kenyan had won the main race. Ethopia provided the other five winners. Kenyans have also won 10 of the last 13 ladies’ races.
3:11:34 – Time recorded last year by Larissa Kolanski in setting a new Guinness World record for the fastest marathon time by a female dressed as a savoury food – she ran dressed as a charcuterie board.
1993
The last year that the main race was won by a British runner, Eamonn Martin.
3
– Ladies’ race wins for Paula Radcliffe, (pictured right), the last British champion in 2005.
77
– Number of entrants in the 2020 event. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the race was was restricted to 30 elite athletes of each sex and invited wheelchair athletes.
6
– London race is one of six marathons that make up the World Marathon Championship – the others are Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and
New York.
1982
– The only year both the men’s and ladies’ races were won by British runners – Hugh Jones, (pictured left), and Joyce Smith, (pictured right).
2,000
– Minimum fundraising target, which has to be paid one month after raceday.
1999
– The year of the event’s first wedding, when Mick Gambrill and Barbara Cole were married mid-race.
5
– Athletes have won three consecutive London titles – Dionicio Cerón (1994-96) in the men’s race, Katrin Dörre-Heinig (1992-94) in the women’s race, David Weir (2006-08) in the men’s wheelchair race, while ladies’ wheelchair pair Francesca Porcellato (2003-06) and Tatyana McFadden (2013-2016) won four in a row.