So that’s it – another Abbott World Marathon Major has come and gone in the blink of an eye.
As I write this on St George’s Day, I’d like to extend a huge congratulation to everybody who entered the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon. Whether it was a PB or a DNF, challenging circumstances made this a hugely difficult weekend that would have been difficult to prepare for.
We’d also like to share our condolences for the family of Matt Campbell, the MasterChef semi-finalist who died after collapsing during the marathon. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.
Looking across the whole weekend, we wanted to publish a review that looked at three specific segments of the weekend; our involvement at the London Marathon Expo at Excel, the elite race and the main event. Here we go!
The Expo
Starting on Wednesday, the Scimitar team set up shop with a host of retail products and custom deals for running clubs and charities, as well as the launch of the 2018 Charity Giveaway.
Boiling weather and a planned-DLR strike didn’t stop the masses heading down to the ExCeL arena, as 40,000 runners registered for the London Marathon across the four days.
We ran a number of competitions across the weekend, as well as revealing a London Mr Men T-Shirt that pays a fantastic homage to the capital city.
The Scimitar team loved the Expo, and the feeling around it all. The party atmosphere, the general good-feeling around the camp and a sense of unity as thousands lined the streets to raise money for good causes.
The Elite
Eyes may have been on Sir Mo Farah for the elite race with a brilliant third place, but we have to give credit to a number of other athletes from the elite category, including Eliud Kipchoge, who picked up his third mens elite title with a time of 2:04:17 (beating Mo by 00:02:04).
Lily Partridge put in a splendid shift to finish 8th, picking up the gong for fastest female Brit with a time of 2:29:24. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s elite race with 2:18:31, putting in to context the remarkable time set by Partridge.
David Weir won his eighth title in the London marathon men’s wheelchair category, setting a time of just one 1:31:15, while Madison de Rozario picking up the women’s title for the very first time.
The Field
Working with hundreds of charities and running clubs, race day has a special feeling for us. It’s a day we can look at thousands of participants wearing our charity running vests & t-shirts, as well as a stunning selection of products from our retail range.
Proud much? Yes. Very much so.
Again, we’d like to extend a huge congratulations to all of those that took part in Sunday’s marathon. The #SpiritofLondon hashtag certainly feels appropriate right now.
