While you’re cooling down, splashing everyone around you with ice water on the first day of Songkran, try and spare a thought for the almost 50,000 brave souls who at around 3pm (Thai time) on 13 April will also be feeling the heat as they drag their bodies through one of the biggest endurance tests known to man: the marathon or, to be more specific, the London Marathon.
Run over a distance of 26.2 miles (42.1 kilometres), the marathon is the most grueling race on the planet. Imagine putting on your running shoes and jogging from Bangkok to Pathum Thani, this should give you an idea of the distance we are talking about.
These days, almost every city in the world has its own marathon, including our very own Bangkok Marathon (that doesn’t actually go to Pathum Thani). In fact, there are over 1,000 marathons run worldwide every year – maybe this is what keeps the world spinning round. Emil Zatopek, the famous Czech runner who achieved the impossible at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games by winning the 5,000 metres, the 10,000 metres and the Marathon, summed up the challenge: “If you want to win something run the 100 metres; if you want to experience another life, run a marathon.”
THE MYTH According to legend, in the 5th Century BC, the Persian army invaded the Greek town of Marathon, located about 26 miles from the capital city of Athens. Severely outnumbered, a Greek messenger named Philippides was ordered to run to Athens to announce the attack. Upon delivering the message, poor Philippides hardly had time to grab a glass of water before he was sent back to Marathon to tell the troops help was on its way. He delivered the message with his last breath before dropping down dead.
Nobody’s really sure how true this legend is, but it makes a great story, though Philippides would probably not agree. Still, what is true is that the longest race on the planet takes its name from this northern Greek town – Marathon.
LONDON MARATHON Inspired by the more established New York Marathon, 7,747 runners lined up for the first ever London Marathon on March 29, 1981 and an amazing 6,255 of them actually crossed the finish line. The world’s favourite races had just been born. The thing that makes the London Marathon unique is that it’s not only about the runners. On this special day, everyone is a participant as the whole city turns out to make this event such a fun day out. As students in Deptford (around the seven-mile mark of the race) we would throw a marathon party every year. As a sea of runners flooded past our house we would cheer them on, blasting out loud music from a sound system set up in the front garden. The most appreciated song was always the lively “Keep on Running”: we would cheer, the athletes would cheer: even the serious race officials would cheer. One year, however, as most of the runners had passed and only a handful of stragglers were limping by, the college comedian changed the tune to “Who’s Sorry Now?” It was so painful that one runner decided he’d had enough, quit the race and joined our party instead. It really is the people’s marathon.
ROUTE
Most visitors to London take a leisurely approach to sightseeing,
usually spreading their schedule out over a few days. The clever ones
even jump on-and-off the city’s famous red double-decker buses to make
sure they see everything without wearing out the shoe leather. London
Marathon runners, however, have no such luxuries: they see all the
attractions in the same day, by foot.
The race starts on Blackheath, infamous as the burial site for the
millions of Londoners killed in the 17th Century Bubonic Plague or
“Black Death” as it was fearfully called; it passes the famous Cutty
Sark tea clipper in Greenwich, that’s right, where the time for the
world is set; Tower Bridge, you’ve all seen the postcards; Canary
Wharf, home to the three tallest buildings in the UK; the Tower of
London, not an ideal resting spot; the London Eye, the big wheel; Big
Ben, the big clock; the Houses of Parliament, famous for its own
‘marathon’ debates, before finishing on The Mall in front of Buckingham
Palace. Maybe the queen even slips on her favourite Adidas shoes to
welcome the winners to her home.
ATHLETES
The 2008 London Marathon will attract almost 100,000 applicants – from
the serious to the suicidal – for the 46,500 starting places available.
The contenders will include professionals, keen amateurs and slightly
misguided do-gooders.
Martin Lel from Kenya, who won last year’s men’s race in a time of 2
hours 7 minutes and China’s Zhou Chunxiu who beat out the female
competition coming home in a time of 2 hours 20 minutes, will both be
back to defend their titles against the best of the rest.
British hopes lie with the return of Paula Radcliffe who, in 2005,
suffering from stomach cramps, shocked everybody by dropping her pants
and relieving herself by the side of the road. While she still won the
race, she admitted to losing face. "I want to apologise to the nation.
I didn't really want to resort to that in front of hundreds of
thousands of people,” she said.
FUN RUNNERS
Super men, wonder women, Scooby Doos, fairies, devils, centipedes,
pantomime horses: the London marathon not only attracts the fastest
runners in the world, it also attracts some of the wackiest. The award
for the nuttiest competitor, however, has to go to Lloyd Scott. A
leukemia sufferer, Lloyd has been raising money for children with the
disease by competing in the London Marathon since 2002. But it’s not
his medical condition that has put Lloyd in the media spotlight: it’s
his choice of costumes. In his first race, he competed the challenge
dressed in a deep-sea diver’s outfit, crossing the line in five days.
He smashed his own ‘record’ in 2006 when it took him eight days to
finish dressed as St George, in a suit of armour with a life-size
dragon in tow. In 2007, he dressed as Indiana Jones, this time pulling
a Hollywood-size boulder. His antics have raised millions of pounds for
charity.
HEART
While gold medals and world records are always cheered, it is the
fundraising aspect of the London Marathon that is most impressive. In
2007, almost 80 per cent of the competitors ran for charity, raising
almost 50 million pounds. In fact, since its inaugural race in 1981 the
marathon has raised over 350 million pounds, making it the longest race
with the biggest heart.
