The WPJ blog

The first London Marathon was held on 29 March 1981, more than 20,000 applied to run. 6,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line on Constitution Hill. The Marathon’s popularity has steadily grown since then. According to the organisers, there were more than 38,000 participants in the 2015 race, the highest number in the London Marathon’s history.

Current course record holders are Wilson Kipsang for the men with a time of 2:04:29 set back in 2014 and Paula Radcliffe for the women at 2:15:25 set in 2003.

This years marathon is set to be its largest to date and the London Marathon’s one millionth finisher will cross the line during the 2016 race, a milestone in the history of the event celebrated by a #oneinamillion social media campaign which celebrates every finisher since the race started in 1981.

This year a total of 69 hopefuls will be attempting to set 55 new world records at the Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 24 April in the ninth successive year of a record-breaking partnership with GWR. Click here for more details.

Road closure information for the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon is available here.

The London Marathon kicks off in Blackheath, South East London, through Woolwich, Greenwich, Isle of Dogs, Tower of London and London Bridge before finishing at The Mall past Buckingham Palace. See an image of the course below:

There are four separate start times for the London Marathon this year: 8.55am, 9am, 9.15am and 10.10am. Wheelchair competitors will set off at 8.55am followed by paralympic runners competing in the IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup at 9am.

At 9.15am the elite women runners will start and at 10am the elite male runners, anyone competing in the British athletics and England Athletics championships and thousands of amateur runners will get going.

¹ WELCOME TO THE VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON Accessed online 22 April 2016 https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/
² Photo credit London Marathon 2017 Accessed online 22 April 2016 https://genesisuk.org/events/london-marathon/