Virgin London Marathon 2011 – \“It was a stunning day,\“ says Bedford

For race director David Bedford yesterday's 31^st London Marathon turned out to be one of those near perfect days "when it all came together". It was a day, he said, capped by two "stunning" elite races and two "incredible" wheelchair contests.

"I've done a lot of these over the years and yesterday was one of the best," he said. "The weather was perfect for the elite races, the course looked great, and I think we did London proud.

"We had two stunning races. Mary Keitany joined a small elite club who've run faster than two hours 20 minutes, and we had absolutely incredible strength in depth in the women's race.

"As for the men's race, 2:05 is a good time to have as a course record but for us to have 2:04 is very important. Thanks to Emmanuel Mutai, we showed that this is an incredibly fast course.

"We also had two incredible wheelchair races, including a course record by Amanda McGrory whose victory over Shelly Woods very nearly required the photo finish equipment.

"And David Weir showed that when he is not punctured he is very difficult to beat. He has five wins, of course, but now he wants a sixth to match Tanni Grey-Thompson's record here. No doubt that'll be next year's goal."

Bedford also picked out the strong debut by Jo Pavey, the Briton who finished 19^th in the women's race in an Olympic qualifying time, as well as Louise Damen's positive run a couple of places behind.

But it was Martin Lel's astonishing return to racing form that most pleased the Virgin London Marathon race director on his last race day in sole command.

"That sprint between Lel and Patrick Makau was incredible," he said, referring to the three-times London winner's final dash down The Mall to secure second place. "It's probably my personal favourite elite story of the year.

"When I spoke to Martin at the Kenyan cross country trials earlier this year he told me things weren't going well and there was no way he could run. A few weeks later he asked to be added to the field. I assumed he was going to enjoy a decent-paced run. So to do what he did yesterday was absolutely outstanding."

As for the celebrities, Bedford picked out Nell McAndrew's impressive finish in 3:08:25; the two Bucks Fizz women, Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston, who made it to the line safely; and Jamie Baulch's healthy victory over former 400m rival Iwan Thomas – "a bit of a walkover," joked Bedford.

He also pointed out that 33 Guinness World Records fell, and on a day of pristione spring sunshine he praised the TV and press coverage the event received as "outstanding".

"Thank you for continuing to support the world's greatest marathon," he said. "I haven't started the negotiations yet, but it will be great to have our champions back. Like the day overall, they were absolutely stunning."