London Marathon to be held over two days in 2027???

It looks as if the 2027 London Marathon might be held over two days in 2027!

The London Marathon organisers are currently in talks for the event to be held on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of April 2027 with some 50,000 runners on each day. 

The last edition in 2024 had 56,540 finishers with over 1.1 million people entering the lottery to enter. 

Obviously the demand of the new arrangement will still far outreach the available places but at least the chances of getting in reduce from something like 1 in 20 to 1 in 10.

A Mayor of London spokesperson said... “London is the sporting capital of the world and the Mayor looks forward to working with London Marathon and partners to consider if it might be possible to host an event that will run across two days next year.”

Full story here... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/mar/25/revealed-secret-plans-for-two-day-london-marathon-with-100000-runners

That raises the obvious question... Should the Dublin Marathon be held over two days? Would the economic boost to the city be worth it? Would the organisers even consider it?

London Marathon Runners called 'Fat' & 'Slow' given a free entry for next year

The 2019 London Marathon held last April is one of the largest marathons in the world and this year, it had a record field of 42,549 finishers.


It wasn't without controversy though as some of the contractors had started to clean up while the marathon was still on. Slower runners said that water stations had been packed away by the time they had reached them.

Participants completing the course in 7h 30m complained that the contractors and marshals had told them to 'hurry up' and used comments such as "if you weren't so fat, you could run," and "this is a race, not a walk".

London Marathon has apologised for this and has said they will implement the following changes...

• Start the clean-up operation later to ensure it will not affect those running at that pace
  Look at the timings of when water was handed out
  Have one of its most senior staff at the back of the race to monitor the event
  Tell contractors of the procedures in place for those running at the slower pace

That have also offered hundreds of slower runners a free entry into next years event.

Full story on the BBC website.

UK elite runner Hayley Carruthers crawls over finish line for 2h 33m time in London Marathon

One of the most memorable sights in the 2019 London Marathon was that of UK elite runner Hayley Carruthers crawling over the line to finish in a time of 2h 33m 59s.

The 26 year old who works in the NHS ran the first half of the race way too fast and had to give everything just to get to the finish line. It was also a three minute PB!




In a post race interview with BBC Radio 1, she said......"We started too fast and I got carried away with the excitement of being in the elite race and all the excitement of London really. We ran the first half far too quickly and it just ended up being a survival fest.

I started counting my steps and my head was gone, I think I lost sight in one eye. My legs felt like lead and I felt sick. It gradually got worse and worse.

To get to 20 miles and think I've still got another 10km to go - I genuinely didn't think I could finish.

It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I just couldn't lift my legs at all and I just couldn't move. It was just petrifying."

Irish results from the 2018 London Marathon

The London Marathon was held last weekend, a huge event with over 40,000 finishers. Here are some of the Irish finishers under 6 hours and no doubt, there are a few Cork runners in there...

Place overall    Name    Club    Category    Half    Finish
12 » SCULLION, Stephen (IRL)         22     18-39     01:07:48     02:15:55 
3    » O'Hanlon, Gary (IRL)    Serpentine RC    40-44    1:08:46    2:21:14
865    » Lenihan, Brian (IRL)        18-39    1:25:53    2:57:40
963    » Faughnan, Dermot (IRL)        40-44    1:25:46    2:58:45
1229    » McCallion, Tommy (IRL)    Other    40-44    1:28:50    3:01:27
1422    » McCallion, Eddie (IRL)    Other    18-39    1:29:04    3:04:24
1503    » Fitzgerald, Karl (IRL)    Other    18-39    1:28:35    3:05:26
1575    » Guinness, Samuel (IRL)        18-39    1:25:53    3:06:18

Irish results at the 2017 London Marathon

The annual London Marathon was held on Sunday the 23rd of April 2017 and over 39,000 people completed the 26.2 mile course. There were about 350 Irish runners listed in the results.

The top 3 Irish men & women were...
2    » Hehir, Sean (GBR)    NI Civil...    2:16:18
21    » SEAWARD, Kevin (IRL)        2:17:08
24    » CLOHISEY, Mick (IRL)        2:18:34
55    » Graham, Laura (GBR)      02:42:38
57    » SANCHEZ, Barbara (IRL)      2:47:36
1224    » Elvin, Jennifer (IRL)    Metro Ab...2:54:41


Full Irish results below...

Man dressed as Spiderman runs 2:30 marathon...

Last weekend, 35 year old Paul Martelletti dressed in a Spiderman costume finished the London Marathon in an amazing time of 2 hours 30 minutes and 12 seconds. That is now a new Guinness World Record time for someone running in a fancy dress costume in a marathon.

When he's not breaking records, Paul Martelletti is a handy runner in his own right with recent half-marathon wins in Brighton, Watford and Wokingham. In March, he won the Bath Half-Marathon in a time of 1:05:27.

Additional info from John Walshe...
Paul Martelletii had also won the Manchester Marathon the week before London in 2:17:47 (with Irishman Eoin Callaghan second in 2:18:45).

Before that, Martelletti had run nine half-marathons in 2015, winning six of the major ones in the UK: Wokingham, Bath, Brighton, Watford, Liverpool and Hillingdon.

As well he has run a number of Parkruns this year, with a fastest time of 15:02.

His performances on the track last year range from 1:59.57 for 800 metres to that 6:57:22 for 100km two weeks later!

Aged 35, he was born in New Zealand but now lives in London.

Winner of 2010 London Marathon gets a drugs ban...

Today Tuesday the 29th of April 2014, the Russian Athletics Federation announced that Liliya Shobukhova has been handed a two-year ban for doping, with her results from October 9, 2009 to be annulled. This was as a result of having found abnormalities in her biological passport.

This means she is set to lose her 2010 London Marathon title, as well as Chicago Marathon titles from 2009, 2010 and 2011, with her ban backdated to January 24, 2013. It will run until January 23, 2015.

If the ban is confirmed following any appeal, her two World Marathon Major (WMM) series wins of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 would also be annulled. The WMM series comprises the Tokyo, Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW Berlin, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City marathons. Just for the Major Series alone, she would have earned $1 million over the two years while for the 2010 London title alone, she would have won $55,000.

In a statement for the World Marathon Majors, a spokesman confirmed that any athlete found guilty of a doping offence is required to repay any prize or appearance money earned at WMM events including WMM series prize money. The statement continued..."WMM will continue to hold a stern line and supports all measures to ensure the integrity of the athletes competing in their races. Cheats need to understand that they are not welcome in our sport and that they will be caught.”

The 36-year-old Shobukhova's time of 2 hours, 18 minutes, 20 seconds in Chicago in 2011 made her the second-fastest women's marathon runner behind record holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain. In response to the news of the drugs ban, Paula Radcliffe put this on her Twitter account..."Lilya Shobukhova finally exposed as a drug cheat. Action needs to be taken to show cheating not acceptable. Monies won should be returned and rightful winners recognized."

If this sounds familiar, remember Tatyana Aryasova of Russia who won the Dublin Marathon in 2010, got €15,000 in prize money and then tested positive for a banned substance just a few months later.

Seriously...if someone is caught, is the prize money ever returned???

Crazy Irish ex-priest banned from 2014 London Marathon...

During the marathon of the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, a former Irish priest Neil Horan ran onto the course just after the 22 mile mark and stopped the leading runner Vanderiel de Lima. The Brazilian athlete was stopped for about 15 seconds and then had to regain his momentum again. He was subsequently passed by two other athletes and finished in third place.

It has just emerged that the very same Neil Horan was planning to run this years London Marathon as a charity entrant for St.John's Ambulance.

When the charity found out who he was, they issued the following statement..."It has been brought to our attention that you have a history of disrupting major sporting events and hold extremist religious views which are not in line with St John Ambulance charity’s values. Due to the above reasons we have no option but to retract this offer and remove you from the London Marathon 2014 team with St John Ambulance.”

In response, the ex-priest said..."It’s nearly 10 years now since I disrupted a sporting event and I’ve said many times that I will never do anything like that again. I’m extremely upset at this decision."

Controversy in London Marathon as wheelchair athlete collides with elite runners...

The London Marathon was held last Sunday, the 21st of April in glorious sunny conditions with a record crowd watching along the route.

In the men's race, Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede won in a time of 2:06:04, beating the 2011 champion Emmanuel Mutai into second place.

The womens race was however a lot more controversial. When the elite women approached a water station at about the 15 kms mark, the Olympic champion Tiki Gelana collided with one of the wheelchair athletes, Canadian Josh Cassidy. Even though Gelana managed to rejoin the race, the collision obviously had it's toll as she finally finished in 16th place in a time of 2:36:55. The 2012 Olympic silver medalist Priscah Jeptoo from Kenya who avoided the incident went on to win in a time of 2:20:15.

In a statement after the race, the organisers put up this statement which basically said that no-one was to blame. In a post race interview however, the wheelchair athlete said this in an interview..."It's something I have mentioned before. I don't know who's responsible but every year we come to overtake the women, there's 10 chairs going at 20mph and the poor women are scrambling to find their feet. I have a brand new $2,000 pair of wheels that are damaged, who's going to pay for them? Things have to change. The safest thing would be to have the chairs start first because one of these years a woman is going to have a leg broken, a career ruined. It's just not worth having this programme if the races are going to suffer.". Others have also called for an earlier separate start for the wheelchair athletes.

Entries for the 2014 London Marathon open on the 29th of April.

Coverage of the collision below...

Mary Keitany runs 5th fastest time ever at London Marathon...

The big international event this weekend was of course the London Marathon. With more than 35,000 people taking part, the mens race was won by Wilson Kipsang of Kenya in a time of 2:04:44. The womens race was won by fellow Kenyan Mary Keitany in an impressive time of 2:18:36. Not only was this a new Kenyan national record but it was also the fifth fastest time ever by a woman in a Marathon.

Rank    Time    Name    Country    Race    Place    RaceDate
1    2:15:25    Radcliffe, Paula    GBR    London    1    4/13/03
2    2:17:18    Radcliffe, Paula    GBR    Chicago    1    10/13/02
3    2:17:42    Radcliffe, Paula    GBR    London    1    4/17/05
4    2:18:20    Shobukhova, Liliya    RUS    Chicago    1    10/9/11
5    2:18:36    Keitany, Mary    KEN    London    1    4/23/12
6    2:18:47    N'dereba, Catherine    KEN    Chicago    1    10/7/01
7    2:18:56    Radcliffe, Paula    GBR    London    1    4/14/02

Keitany's 5km Splits: 16:51, 16:45, 16:51, 16:47, 16:23, 16:16, 16:08, 15:45.

Keitany must now be one of the favourites to take gold in the Olympics this summer. And if you are looking at the photo above and wondering just how tall one of the fastest Marathon runners in the world is, the answer is 5ft 1" (1.55m).

The event of course had some of it's more whackier entrants. David Stone (42) from Exmouth, in Devon, dressed as Count Dracula and completed the run in two hours 42 minutes, smashing the previous record of three hours and two minutes as the fastest book character.

Fauja Singh, believed to be the oldest marathon runner at 101, completed his race in seven hours and 49 minutes, some 35 minutes faster than the 8:25 which he ran in Toronto last October. The east Londoner has said this would be his last marathon so he can concentrate on shorter distances and faster times!

Other records broken on Sunday included the fastest marathon dressed as a jester in three hours one minute by Alexander Scherz, the fastest marathon dressed as a Roman Soldier in two hours and 57 minutes by David Tomlin and the fastest marathon dressed as a vegetable in two hours and 59 minutes by Edward Lumley.

There are some photos on the BBC Website HERE

The race also had it's tragic moment when a 30 year old woman collapsed and died near the finish of the 26.2-mile race. The event's organisers say that she fell as she approached Buckingham Palace. Medical attention was given at the scene, but she was declared dead later in the afternoon.

This has of course raised the subject in the mainstream press about how safe running a Marathon actually is? The reality is that fatalities are very rare. The 30-year-old woman who collapsed close to the finish line of the 2012 London Marathon is the 10th participant to die since the event began in 1981. Five of these were linked to heart conditions like blocked heart blood vessels or a structural congenital problem with the heart. Similarly, US research has looked at nearly 11 million runners who participated in marathons or half-marathons between 2000 and 2010. Over the decade, 59 of the runners had a cardiac arrest - where the heart stops working - and 42 of these people died. This means one death in every 259,000 runners. Most had underlying heart conditions or heart disease.

As with all types of strenuous physical activity, you are advised to seek a medical opinion before you start a training regime.

Podcast from BBC R4 on the First London Marathon...

No doubt a lot of Cork runners are planning to take part in some Marathon events in the near future. We have  Connemara next Sunday, London on the 25th, Limerick at the start of May and of course the Cork City  Marathon on the June Bank holiday Monday. 


There was a time of course when there was no such thing as a big city Marathon and they certainly weren't open to members of the public. This podcast looks back to 1981 to the first London Marathon and the start of the running boom.


The audio podcast is about 40 minutes long and anyone with an interest in running should find it interesting. Please note that it is just over 40 minutes long! It may only stay on the website for a limited time so listen to it asap.


The link is HERE

Entries for the 2009 London Marathon....???

Someone left a comment under a previous post about the 2009 London so I have put it up here as a seperate post...

"Just wondering has anyone who applied for the London Marathon, through the overseas ballot system, got an acceptence yet. Myself and my wife both applied, unfortunately she got a refusal email but I've heard nothing good or bad yet. Still hopeful!..........Anonymous"

I have heard of another person who got a refusal. Anyone got an acceptance yet?