Run Britain – News – Runners to test Olympic marathon route on Monday

Bank Holiday Monday will see 10000 runners line up against the backdrop of Buckingham Palace for the BUPA London 10000.

The route will take them past many of London's famous sights including Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye, Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Nelson's Column and Admiralty Arch giving them a flavour of the course that will make up next year's Olympic marathons.

Although it's not the exact course that the marathon will take (the marathon loop is 12.km and heads further into the city) the runners will get to run on many of the roads that will host the 2012 Olympic marathon.

There are a select few, however, who will run the exact course and the exact distance. Five hours before the BUPA London 10000 gets underway there will be a trial run for the Olympic Marathon. This isn’t a race. It’s a run to attempt to replicate the practicalities of next year’s Olympic Marathon around the streets of London.

 The start is at 0600hrs, when hopefully the streets will be relatively traffic free. To qualify, runners had to demonstrate proven ability to cover the distance between 2:30 and 2:45. A total of 50 runners were selected, and they will be expected to run the entire course altogether in around 3 hours.

This is to simulate a large pack of runners staying together in a competitive race for a long time, and, for example, seeing whether a feeding station is able to dispense personalised drinks to 50 runners safely and simultaneously.

Very few runners get the chance to compete in an Olympic Marathon, so, for these few, it’s quite an honour to be able to work with the Olympic Marathon organisers and get an insight into what millions will be watching come 2012.

 Run Britain – News

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