London Marathon

Images of Britain: London Marathon

The London Marathon takes place usually in London in October. It is a fixture on the British sporting calendar.

The annual event is one of the biggest street marathons in the world up there with Boston, New York and Tokyo. Indeed it is now part of the World Marathon Majors held in the cities of Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo.

The race was founded by athletes Chris Brasher, an Olympic champion and John Disley in 1981. It has been held every year so far since except in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The race traditionally begins in Blackheath and finishes on The Mall.

The event consists of a mass race for the public, professional races for men and women long-distance runners, elite level wheelchair races for both men and women, as well as a 3-mile mini marathon event for under-17 runners.

In 2019, over 40,000 people participated in the marathon. The 2025 TCS London Marathon set a new world record for the largest number of finishers in a marathon, with over 56,640 people completing the 26.2-mile course on April 27, 2025.

The winners of the London Marathon (men & women) from 2023 to 2025 were Kelvin Kiptum and Sifan Hassan (2023), Alexander Mutiso Munyao and Peres Jepchirchir (2024), and Sabastian Sawe and Tigst Assefa (2025). Assefa set a women's-only world record in 2025.