This event has already passed
- Where?
- Various locations
- When?
- 21st April 2024
- Tickets?
- Free to watch from the side of the street
- See tcslondonmarathon.com
- Bus routes:
- London bus fares
- Trains:
- London train fares
The London Marathon begins in Blackheath and Greenwich Park and immediately heads east through Charlton. (Note: The elite women set off 45 mins earlier than the elite men, and the wheelchair racers start another twenty minutes before that.) The runners will turn near Woolwich High Street and then head back through Charlton towards Greenwich, passing by the Cutty Sark.
They will then follow the bend of the river north, past Deptford and Rotherhithe station, crossing the river at Tower Bridge. The runners will have covered 12-miles by this point.
The runners will then head east through Shadwell, past Westferry and tall towers of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, and then double back past Limehouse towards The City. The race will now enter the touristy parts of London.
The 23-mile point will be reached at the Tower of London. After that they will pass along Lower Thames Street, Upper Thames Street and Blackfriars station, and down the Victoria Embankment to Westminster Bridge. They will then cross the north side of Parliament Square and the southside of St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace, before ending (and collapsing!) halfway down the Mall.
The current men's record for the 26.2 miles is 2:02:37, set by the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in 2019. The women's record is held by Britain's own Paula Radcliffe, with a time of 2.15:25 in 2003. The quickest wheelchair racers are Marcel Hug and Manuela Schar, who clocked up times of 1:26:27 and 1:39:52 respectively.
If you're planning on taking part yourself then you should be aiming for a time of between two and three hours, which is usually enough to put you in the top 8% of men and the top 1% of women. If you come in under four hours then you'll be in the top 47% of men and the top 22% of women.
