1. It's estimated that £250 million has been raised for good causes in the 23 years the London marathon has been running (it started in 1981)
2. The largest amount raised by an individual is £1.18 million, which was raised by marathon director John Spurling in 1999
3. The 572,174 people who have completed the marathon ran a total of over 15 million miles during the race between them - which is equivalent to 30 trips to the moon and back
4. This year 2,211 teachers are running, but only 20 politicians. We guess that the politicians have something else on their mind.
5. If you fancy a drink on the way, there are 76 pubs along the 26.2 mile course
6. Six British Male Athletes have won the race (Hugh Jones, Mike Gratton, Charlie Spedding, Steve Jones, Allister Hutton and Eamonn Martin) and Four British female Athletes have won the race 6 times between them (Joyce Smith twice, Veronique Marot, Liz McColgan and Paula Radcliffe twice)
7. The race has produced 6 world records - Khalid Khannouchi set the only mens record in 2003, Grete Waitz (1983), Ingrid Kristiansen (1985) and Paula Radcliffe (2003) have all set womens records and Joyce Chepchumba (1999) and Paula Radcliffe (2002) set records for women only races.
8. The fastest British Male runner on 2003 was 8 minutes slower than the fastest British runner in 1985.
9. The fastest MP is Matthew Parris (Conservative, West Derbyshire) in a time of 2hr 32:57 (1985). In fact he holds all of the top 5 fastest times for an MP.
10. It is estimated that runners have spread more than a ton of petroleum jelly on chapped groins, nipples and toes.
If you think you can do better, feel free to contact us.
Book a london hotel