FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Record numbers to run tomorrow's Virgin Money London Marathon
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.
Among those competing for the prized London crown will be defending
champion Shura Kitata, who put in an impressive sprint finish to take the
win in challenging conditions at the elite-only event in 2020. He'll be
joined by six men who've run under 2:04, a record for a marathon field,
including the two men who joined him on the podium last year, Kenya's
Vincent Kipchumba and Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma.
In the women's race, defending champion and Olympic silver medallist Brigid
Kosgei will be looking to make it three London wins in a row as she takes
on no less than nine women who have run under 2:20 – making the elite
women's field the most competitive ever assembled.
Reigning champions Brent Lakatos and Nikita den Boer will defend their
crowns in the wheelchair races, but the winners of last weekend's BMW
Berlin Marathon, Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär, are expected to push them
hard. David Weir, who is taking part in his 22nd consecutive London
Marathon and chasing an unprecedented ninth title, will be in the mix too,
with the 2019 men's winner Danial Romanchuk also a contender.
The elites will be followed by thousands of club athletes, fun runners,
charity fundraisers, celebrities and fancy-dress costume wearers. Among
them will be nine men who have run every single London Marathon since 1981,
stars of sport and screen, including former England cricket captain Andrew
Strauss, everyday heroes supporting Charity of the Year Macmillan, and
people dressed in all sorts of weird and wonderful outfits striving to
break more than 49 Guinness World Records.
First under the famous Finish gantry in The Mall will be the best young
runners and para-athletes in the country competing for honours in the
Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon, which will feature a 2.6K course
for the first time and be started at 08:30 by Olympic gold medallist and
former Mini London Marathon runner Alex Yee.
Following its success last year, the Virgin Money Giving Mini London
Marathon in schools also returns this year. The event offers children of
all ages and abilities the chance to earn a commemorative pin badge by
running, jogging, walking or wheeling 2.6 miles in their schools. The free
event runs until Friday 22 October and more than 460,000 children have been
signed up already.
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