The London Marathon is one of the best bits of free entertainment you can have in London – especially if the weather is nice – and it looks as if it is going to be a beautiful day tomorrow.

The race is run over 26 miles and 325 yards – and is run by tens of thousands of runners , ranging form the elite runners who will possibly be breaking the world records down to the thousands of club runners and then to the tens of thousands of ordinary people who run the race mainly to raise money for charity.  The races start at 9.00 for the elite women, and 45 minutes later for the elite men and the ‘mass start’. There is also a wheelchair marathon which is quite amazing. If you want to get a good view the best places to see the race are Greenwich (quite near the start so not too many tired runners), by Tower Bridge – which is about half way and where they cross the river about an hour after they start or along the Embankment (opposite the London Eye and 15 minutes walk from Trafalgar Square) where you can see the first runners come past about 11.45 (a couple of hours after the start) and then can see the other runners come in for the next few hours. The finish is in the Mall – in front of Buckingham Palace – the first men should finish in a couple of hours (the world record is 2hr 3min 59sec for men and 2hr 15 min 45sec for women). There is great expectation of someone breaking the world record – so make sure you’re there to see it. The roads are opened after 6 hours and even then the last person won’t have finished! The centre of London is pretty traffic free so it’s a great opportunity just to wander around. The biggest attraction though is probably the thousands of fun runners who raise millions of pounds for charities and sometimes dress in costumes! Its a fantastic spectacle and just another reason to be in London – if you needed one! If you fancy having a go then you apply online – the website is open for applications on May 4th.  Last year all the 125,000 applications were gone in a few days and not everyone who applies gets in – there are only about 30,000 actual places, so get in early!  The only way to guarantee getting in is if you have run a very fast time – something under 2hr30mins for men. Come and join us at UIC and make sure you see plenty of things like this to make the most of your time in London. If you do fancy starting running there are plenty of running clubs (come to the office and ask us if you want help finding one), and the parks in London make great places to practice. There are also a couple of proper running tracks open to the public – the most central one is in Battersea Park – very easy to find and get to.  You never know, you might be the next champion!

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