Virgin Money London Marathon returns this weekend
The 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon tomorrow is on track to be the biggest marathon ever, with more than 36,000 taking part in the mass event and up to 40,000 taking on 26.2 miles between 00:00 and 23:59:59 BST on the course of their choice anywhere in the world in the virtual event.
When registration desks at the Virgin Money London Marathon Running Show at ExCeL London closed at 17:30 today, a total of 36,401 applicants had picked up their bib numbers over the last four days ahead of tomorrow’s event.
With cool, but drier, conditions expected on Marathon Day, participants in the mass event on the streets of London can look forward to taking in some of the famous landmarks on the iconic course 889 days after it last took place there.
At the same time, thousands of virtual participants will celebrate being part of the 41st edition of the event and its #WeRunTogether campaign in their communities, set to make this not only the biggest London Marathon to date, but also the most meaningful, as Event Director Hugh Brasher notes: “Togetherness is what we have missed so much over these past 18 months.
“Back in 1981, one of the founding aims of the London Marathon was ‘to have fun and provide some happiness and a sense of achievement in a troubled world’. Forty years on, those words have never been more appropriate. Tomorrow will be an extraordinary day as We Run Together.”
The elite men’s and mass races will begin when Tokyo Olympic BMX medallist Kye Whyte pushes the start button on Shooters Hill Road in Blackheath at 09:30.
Another star from Tokyo 2020, Paralympian Hannah Cockroft, will set the world’s best elite wheelchair racers on their way at 08:50, followed 10 minutes later by the world’s best women marathon runners, who will begin their quest for one of the most prestigious big city titles at 09:00, in a race started by 1996 London Marathon champion Liz McColgan. Her daughter Eilish, Olympian and European 5,000m silver medallist, is a pacemaker in the elite women’s race this year.
As reported on the London Marathon pages with further details on ths link.