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On a day when the London Marathon went out of this world and record numbers crossed the Finish Line in The Mall, including its one millionth finisher, it was elite race winners Eliud Kipchoge and Jemima Sumgong who provided the icing on the cake with two elite performances to rank with any in the event’s history.
Kipchoge produced a run of true “majesty” as he smashed the London course record, while Sumgong showed great bravery in battling back from her bruising fall to take the women’s crown with blood running from her temple.
“It was an incredible day,” said Brasher. “We are delighted that 39,140 had finished by 18:00 yesterday, which was far more than we expected. We’ll revise that number in time, but it means our one millionth finisher went over the Finish Line at around 16:17 yesterday, and we will announce their name on 9 May.
“I asked the elite athletes to give John a fitting tribute and they absolutely delivered that,” he added. “The way Jemima came back from that fall to win was amazing, and then we had a quite incredible performance from Eliud.
“[BBC commentator] Steve Cram summed it up best when he said it was probably the best marathon performance ever seen.
“People say London is not a fast course but he and Stanley Biwott broke the world record for 30km, and then the majesty of the way Eliud powered away from Stanley was inspiring – the way he was smiling and so relaxed made me smile too.
“This event is all about quality and yesterday we had quality races right through all the elite races. At halfway you couldn’t call any of them.”
With a record field pounding the streets along Disley’s famous course, Brasher said there is little doubt that this year’s entrants will raise more money for charity than ever before.
The runners also set 31 official Guinness World Records, including one for the fastest lobster and one in space, where astronaut Tim Peake completed the Digital Virgin Money London Marathon onboard the International Space Station.
“London likes to call itself the greatest marathon in the world,” said Brasher. “And with Tim starting the race from the ISS and then running 3:35 on his treadmill, we now have the first Guinness out of this World Record.
“Having a man in space starting the race will take some topping,” he added. “But we are always looking at how we can move things on. Starting from space is pretty unique and quite how we’ll follow that I don’t know.
“People asked in 2015 how would we top the celebrations of our 35th year. But yesterday our elite performances and incredible finishing numbers really did help to do that.
“Our desire is to inspire more people to take up sport and feel the emotion the London Marathon gives people. There are very few areas in life where you have lots of people cheering you on to succeed, and in the London Marathon you have thousands willing you to finish.
“Kelly Holmes said her finisher’s medal would rank alongside her Olympic medals from Athens, and that is an amazing thing to say.”
The London Marathon received 247,000 applicants for the 2016 race in just five days. The public ballot for the 2017 race will open to all applicants on Monday 2 May and close at 17:00 on Friday 6 May.
Source: Virgin Money London Marathon
