London Marathon 2024: Things You May Have Missed! 

The 2024 TCS London Marathon was a record-breaking day, starting at the front of the race with a new women’s only world record set by Peres Jepchirchir.

That was the first of many records and many amazing things that happened on the 26.2 miles between Greenwich and The Mall. Here are all the things you may have missed! 

Cairess’s Casio

Emile Cairess had a brilliant race. He was third overall, and the first British finisher. His time of 2:06:46 was the second-fastest British marathon of all time, which secured him a spot on Team GB for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. And he did it all wearing only a standard Casio watch.

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Super Shoe Clean Sweep

The Era of Super Shoes is now fully here. When Peres Jepchirchir broke the women’s only world record, it toppled the last remaining elite marathon world record which had been set in non-carbon plate shoes. The previous best of 2:17:01 was run by fellow Kenyan Mary Keitany at the 2017 London Marathon, wearing what looked to be Adidas Adizero Adios Boost 3.

A Good Day For Adidas

Jump forward seven years, and the most successful shoe on the male and female podiums was the latest version of the Adidas Adizero Adios line: the Pro Evo 1. It was worn by the first and third male (second wore Anta C10 Pro), and the first and second female, with the third female also wearing Adidas (Adizero Adios Pro 3). 

The World’s Fastest Tap, Traffic Cone and Poop?

Jepchirchir’s new record was one of an incredible 44 running world records which were broken at the 2024 London Marathon!

Richard Whitehead ran 2:42:01 for a world record for fastest marathon for athletes with bilateral knee amputations. Anthony Bryan ran the fastest marathon for a man paralysed down one side of his body. Jono Astle ran the fastest marathon by someone with multiple sclerosis. And at 19-years old, Lloyd Martin became the youngest person with Down syndrome to complete a marathon.

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There were also lots of records for people in costumes, including: fastest tap, fastest marathon in an inflatable costume (male and female), fastest video game character (male and female), fastest Rubix cube, fastest traffic cone, fastest emoji (a poop!), fastest marathon carrying a bicycle, fastest 10-person costume, most t-shirts worn in a marathon (100!), and a lot more! See all the official Guinness world records broken at the 2024 London Marathon. 

The Most Finishers Ever

This year saw the most ever finishers at the London Marathon! Of the 54,281 people who started the race, 53,802 crossed the finish line. 

A Fundraising PB

Charity donation totals for the day have passed £67m, making this the largest amount raised for charity at a single day fundraising event (with more donations still expected).

Old And Young Finishers (and Birthday Runners!)

David Picksley was the oldest finisher at the 2024 London Marathon, with the 91-year old running an inspiring 7:57:15. The youngest finisher was William Hamilton, who turned 18 just two days before the race.

The oldest woman to finish was 81-year old Eileen Hieron (who only started running when she was 73!), while 18-year old Maya Woolf was the youngest woman to finish. 

And over 200 people ran this year’s London Marathon on their birthday!

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Final Finishers and Terrific Tailwalkers

In a move to make the marathon more achievable for all runners, organisers kept the finish line on The Mall open until 7.30pm, then opened another finish line in St James’s Park. If anyone taking part started to move slower than the eight-hour pace required to finish by 7.30pm, then one of a team of 100 ‘tailwalkers’ accompanied them to the new finish. This year, around 50 people completed the marathon in St James’s Park instead of The Mall. 

Fred Tomlinson, who at 75 was running his 32nd consecutive London Marathon, was this year’s final finisher, arriving to a hero’s welcome as he crossed the finish line just after midnight in a time of 13:23:17.

Wineathon?

Tom Gilbey had his own personal ‘hydration’ stops on the course, blind-tasting 25 different wines as he ran (and doing a very impressive job at guessing what he was drinking!) – he even carried his own wine glass! Not sure we’d recommend this one in a guide to race nutrition, but Tom seemed to have a fun time and he raised over £10,000 for Sobell House hospice!

A Television First!

We’ve seen that there were many characters running the race, but there were also two people in character. EastEnders actors Jamie Borthwick and Emma Barton (playing Jay Brown and Honey Mitchell) ran the race as part of storyline in the soap, with cameras filming them along the course at the start, Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge (where other characters were there to cheer them on), and the finish line. The footage was edited into Monday night’s episode.

Famous Faces

The soap stars weren’t the only well-known runners, and this year saw a lot of famous faces cross the finish line on The Mall.

Comedian Ivo Graham pushed fellow comedian Rosie Jones, who carried a megaphone to shout encouragement along the course, all while raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Up. There was McFly drummer Harry Judd; singer Tom Grennan; comedian and presenter Romesh Ranganathan; Doctor Who actor Christopher Eccleston; double Olympic gold medal rower James Cracknell; businessman Jim Ratcliffe (whose company funded the INEOS 1:59 project, so he got some tips from Eliud Kipchoge before the race!); Joel Dommett ran in a piranha costume from The Masked Singer, the show he hosts; the Hardest Geezer Russ Cook ran, with his legs likely still sore from running the entire length of Africa. There was also the amazing Sarah from The Running Channel – her race video will be out soon!

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Did you spot anything else from this year’s London Marathon?

Lead photo: Jamie Rutherford