Marathon Archives

Don Ritchie – The Stubborn Scotsman

July 24, 2018 Rahil Sachak-Patwa

If searching for the longest standing world records in athletics, you will most likely be pointed to Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 800m at the 1983 World Championships. If you dig further still, you may come across Donald ‘Don’ Ritchie, who, on 28th October 1978, ran 100 kilometres around the Crystal Palace track in 6 hours,10 minutes and 20 seconds. To put that into perspective, he averaged a pace of quicker than 6 minutes per mile, or just under 1m29s per lap for 250 of them. This record stood for just short of […]

The London Marathon – My Beautiful Race

May 1, 2018 Rahil Sachak-Patwa

I step through the archway into the Championship starting area. Whereas the mass start is abuzz with excitement, here the runners are reserved, concealing their enthusiasm for the sport that consumes their lives. Most are just sitting in the large tent, conserving their energy like predators about to go out on a hunt. They don’t want to burn through valuable fuel resources walking about in the sun; they know what’s ahead of them and that they’ll need every ounce of energy they can muster when it comes to the crunch. […]

Two marathons in two weather extremes in one week

April 24, 2018 James Findon

By Richard Sun, PhD student, QMUL. I love running and sometimes I have crazy idea, such as to do back-to-back marathons, and the two marathons are two of the bests in the world, Boston and London. Throwback to April of last year, I did my first sub-3 hours marathon in Manchester and qualified for Boston and London (Good for Age). Though there is only a 6-day gap between the two marathons, I signed up both because I couldn’t wait. The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon which begun […]

Students shine in hottest London Marathon on record

April 23, 2018 James Findon

On a sweltering day in London, fifteen students and alumni from LUCA clubs lined up for the 38th London Marathon. One of these runners was Rob Pope, a former student of the Royal Veterinary College. Pope ran this year’s London Marathon dressed as Tom Hanks’ Oscar-winning character, Forest Gump, in 2 hours, 36 minutes and 28 seconds. His achievement earned him a Guinness World Record for the fastest male marathon runner in a film character costume. This wasn’t the first time Pope has run dressed as Gump, as we’ve previously reported here. There was also […]

My London Marathon: Part I

May 14, 2017 Rahil Sachak-Patwa

There was a nervous but hopeful atmosphere in the red starting area an hour before the London Marathon was to commence. It was akin to a music festival with big screens, portaloos and a sea of excited individuals in shorts. We were funnelled into the start zone and it was only when we were crammed into the pens that the scale of the race dawned on me. We stood there for an endless amount of minutes, making small talk and prepping ourselves for the quest ahead of us. Eventually the clock […]

#Breaking2 Hour Marathon – Close But No Cigar

May 8, 2017 Seth Kennard

Early on Saturday morning (6th May), Nike made their bid to make history with a sub-2 hour marathon. Three runners, Eliud Kipchoge, Lelisa Desisa and Zersenay Tadese, started together on the Monza’s Formula One race course in Italy. Only Kipchoge came close in the end, crossing the line in 2:00:25. That time takes 2:30 minutes off the previous record, held by Dennis Kimetto. This was an impressive 2:02:57, set in competition at the 2014 Berlin marathon. Technically though, Kipchoge’s incredible run won’t count as a world record because it was […]

David Weir and Jo Pavey drop in on King’s Athletics

April 21, 2017 James Findon

Six time Olympic gold medalist David Weird and European 10,000 Champion, Jo Pavey visited Southwark Park Athletics Centre today. With two days to go until the London Marathon, the pair were greeted by athletes from King’s College London, London City AC and Southwark’s Mini-Marathon team. Weir and Pavey were quizzed by athletes on a range of topics from diet to training techniques. Weir will be going for a seventh London Marathon gold on Sunday. Five-time Olympian Jo Pavey told athletes her desire is to qualify for World Championships. Pavey […]