Thousands turn out for Marathon

Apr 17 2011

Tens of thousands of runners set off in good conditions as the London Marathon got under way.

Up to 36,500 athletes were expected to finish the 26.2-mile course after pounding through the streets of the capital to earn their marathon medals and raise money for countless charities.

Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai set a new course record in winning the men's race with a time of two hours, four minutes and 40 seconds, beating the previous best by 30 seconds.

Three-time winner Martin Lel and Patrick Makau made it a clean sweep for Kenya, Lel just edging out his compatriot in a sprint finish. It was an incredibly successful day for competitors from the east African country, as Mary Keitany claimed a commanding victory in the women's race, clocking a time of two hours 19 minutes and 19 seconds. She relegated defending champion Liliya Shobukhova of Russia into second, with Kenya's Edna Kiplagat in third.

Britain's Jo Pavey enjoyed an excellent marathon debut, finishing 19th in 2:28.23. In the wheelchair race home favourite David Weir claimed an unprecedented fifth title with a perfectly timed sprint finish. In the women's race, Shelly Woods came within centimetres of making it a British double when she was pipped on the line by American Amanda McGrory.

In addition to a new course record, a host of more obscure marathon world records were broken, such as fastest super hero, cartoon character and person dressed as a nurse.

David Stone, 41, from Exmouth, Devon, ran as Superman in an impressive 2:42.46. The garden centre manager said: "It was great out there because there was so much support. Everyone was shouting "Superman", there were arms going up in the air. It was absolutely brilliant."

Jon Morgan, 43, became the fastest cartoon character after completing the course as Fred Flintstone in 2:46.59. The anaesthetist from Sheffield, who dyed his hair black and carried a plastic club, admitted the warm temperature had made it more difficult: "It was very hot but luckily you generate your own wind when running so it wasn't horrific," he said.

Blinded Pc David Rathband said he used the memory of Raoul Moat's gun attack to get him to the finish line. He said: "During the race I took myself back to the night I was shot, it hurt that much - but not as much as when I was shot - and I literally ran in my mind from the car to the local hospital up the road just to finish the last three miles.

"People will use whatever things they need to get them through pain barriers. I said quite publicly the pain I felt on July 4 was unmeasurable. But it still hurt (today) and I needed to use my resolve to get through, so I used the experience of running from the car to the hospital after being shot."