There's one big thing that sticks in my mind that sums up the London Marathon for me: it's the charity marathon.
It struck me right from the start corrals. It seemed as we got ready to run that everyone's singlet or tshirt seemed to represent a charity.
Big charities, little charities, it didn’t matter. “Running in memory of …” or “doing this for …” was popular.
No wonder this is the world’s largest one day fundraising event - bringing in over £50m. That’s $90m in AUD!
Being the charity event meant a number of things that were important and particular to London:
1. The very special crowds
It was a beautiful sunny autumn day in London and the spectators were out in force. The crowds were enormous and everywhere along the entire 42.2kms. Not just at the start and finish lines, in fact there was nowhere they weren’t LOUD!
The charity aspect meant that these aren't just crowds, they are 'fans'. They are the runner's supporters and they were out in force to cheer on 'their' runners. Yes, there may have been elites to watch but the largest crowds were looking for their charity runners. And when they saw them they went crazy!!
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| Our charity, Terence Higgins Trust, raised over 53,000 GBP this year from our team. That's A$95k! and the tally is still growing :) |
2. The coverage is much more than just the elites
We got back to our hotel in time to watch the one hour summary package live on BBC.
The coverage is very different. The week prior we watched the coverage of the Berlin Marathon and that was
99% about the elites (and 90% of that was about Kipchoge).
Yes, London had a few minutes on the elites but the bulk of the show was for and about the everyday runners. Telling the charity stories - and weren’t there some rippers. 19 Guinness World Records were set on the day (not any Mr Potato Head's thankfully!)
3. The finish line is for EVERYONE
London's finish line stayed open for the last runners to cross. Nice touch. While the course closed so central London's traffic could return, the finish line stayed open. The events Facebook page had the last runner as their cover photo - and not the elite runners.
I felt like this was London's event for Londoners. It was like they were saying "this is our day, so we'll happily shut all the streets, and we'll come out in force to support our own who are raising money for London's charities". It was a happy vibe everywhere. And after days of mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth (the funeral was the Monday just before the race), Londoner's were ready for some fun.
4. Value what is hard to get
The chances of getting a spot via the ballot are nearly impossible. More than 400,000 people apply in the ballot for an entry bib. Less than 1% of the international entries get one. That’s another reason why charity spots are the way to go. It makes it more special. I'm all for it.
So put all this together - great organisation, perfect weather, huge numbers of fans and runners - and it makes for a really FUN event. Everyone smiles. And why not - they are enjoying their city, their weather, their event - and doing it all for a great range of causes.
NICE MOMENTS
Nice moment #1: A minute's silence for Her Majesty before the race began:
Nice moment #2: Eliud Kipchoge handing out medals!
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| Imagine having the GOAT give you a medal! Wow! Lucky people. |
COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
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| Tower Bridge. Amazing. |
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| Oh look, there's The London Eye! |
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| Big Ben |
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| Finishing outside Buckingham Palace. |
Organisation | 9 | Easily a 10 but they lost 1 point for one reason - we couldn't start together. But really amazing organisation overall - just think what it takes to shut down the City Of London so we can run! * The Expo = easy, simple, * Race day = Transport to the event via free trains. Easy. * Start area = Lots of helpful volunteers, lots of organisation, lots of space, all very easy. Bag check and security were straight forward. Corrals = lots of portaloos, standing urinals (even for the women!), bag drop, etc. for the relatively late start time of 9.30am. * On course = huge numbers of volunteers (thank you! :) Lots of drinks stations (and all bottles were recycled). Gels at two points and Lucozade as well.
The only problem was we couldn't run together from the start. We put down the same expected finish time but were allocated into different start groups. Four different start lines merge at 5km. It was OK, just required some extra planning for when and where to meet (It also meant I had to stand and wait 5 minutes - that doesn't help your time!) | |||
Crowd | 10 | As I described above, this was a fun day. The Monday prior had been the funeral for the Queen and the period of mourning had just ended, so London was ready to come out and have some fun. | |||
Atmosphere | 10 | ||||
Course | 8 | Big participant numbers mean if you want to be fast, then start right up the front. There were lots of walkers. But you can't get frustrated by that. The course is generally a little underwhelming on the whole. Lots of running through places that are non-descript and could be anywhere. Tower Bridge just before half way gives you a kick. But, oh, the last 10km - just when you need it - is special.
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Expo | 9 | Why aren't more convention centres (the usual site for Expos) closer to the city! An easy train ride and excellent orgnisation again. | |||
Medal | 9 |  Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.  I always love this moment - my 5 seconds of fame! | |||
Runner’s pack | 8 | Not a bad New Balance tshirt. Not included in the pack but worthy of a mention was the photo package. Best ever. Started with more than 170 photos for 33GBP. Got it up to nearly 300 with the advanced search! Wow! Priceless memories. | |||
Injuries | 1 | Just one black toe nail. Obviously didn't run hard enough! | |||
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| Obligatory kiss the medal photo |
| https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/ |
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