FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TIM PEAKE TO START THE 2016 VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON
British ESA astronaut and digital marathon runner Tim Peake will be the
official race starter of the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 24
April.
Peake, who's currently orbiting the Earth on board the International Space
Station (ISS), has recorded a good luck message to start the race which
will be relayed via giant screens to runners gathered at the event's Blue,
Red and Green Start Lines.
The message finishes with a 10-second countdown to 10:00 when 40 elite men
and more than 37,000 mass race runners will set off on their 26.2-mile
journey from Shooters Hill in south east London to Westminster.
Earlier, Sylvia Disley, widow of the event's co-founder John Disley CBE and
a 1952 Olympic relay medallist, will provide the more down-to-Earth
send-off for the IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup wheelchair and ambulant
races, and for the elite women.
Peake, who's part of a European Space Agency programme, will then embark on
his own marathon mission when he straps himself onto the ISS treadmill to
run the first ever Digital Virgin Money London Marathon in space.
Peake completed the 1999 London Marathon at ground level in 3:18:50, but
this year is aiming to become the first man to run a marathon in space. He
will start at 10:00 on 24 April, just like his fellow runners on Earth. He
will follow a virtual 'mixed reality' video of the London Marathon course
alongside avatars of other digital runners around the world who have also
downloaded the London Marathon course in the RunSocial app.
Peake is aiming to cross the virtual Finish Line after 4:00 to 4:30 hours
of running, just as thousands of club runners and charity fund-raisers make
their own way towards The Mall in the heart of central London.
Among the talented athletes who will be racing to the real Finish from
Blackheath this year are the current London Marathon elite race champions,
Eliud Kipchoge and Tigist Tufa, men's world record holder Dennis Kimetto
and London course record holder Wilson Kipsang, the men's and women's world
champions, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie and Mare Dibaba, and the second fastest
woman ever over the course, Mary Keitany.
There will also be more than 70 para-athletes competing in the third IPC
Athletics Marathon World Cup, including the reigning wheelchair world
champions, Joshua George and Tatyana McFadden, and Britain's own six-times
Paralympic champion, David Weir, who is going for a record seventh London
Marathon victory.
The elites will be followed by thousands of club athletes, fun runners,
charity fundraisers, celebrities, politicians and fancy dress costume
wearers, including Peake's colleagues and fellow-Space Agency personnel, Dr
Jonathan Scott from ESA and Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency, who are
running in replica space suits.
Here is a full list of the official starters:
Sylvia Disley, British Olympian & widow of London Marathon co-founder John
Disley
08:55 IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup Wheelchair Races, Blue Start
09:00 Other IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup Races, Blue Start
09:15 Elite Women's Race, Blue Start
Tim Peake, European Space Agency astronaut
10:00 Elite Men's Race & Mass Race, Blue Start
Councillor Obajimi Adefiranye, London Borough of Lewisham
10:00 Mass Race, Green Start
Councillor Norman Adams, Mayor of the Royal London Borough of Greenwich
10:00 Mass Race, Red Start
###
|
