London Marathon 2014

The leading pack read by Haille

On Sunday Becks and I headed down to Deptford to watch the London marathon from the same spot that we stood in last year at the top of Deptford High St.

Playing with the live tracking on the London Marathon website, we were able to anticipate when the leaders might arrive and check to see if friends had yet crossed the starting line. We had around a fifteen minute wait until the leaders passed, led by the legend Haille Gebrselassie who was pace making.

They passed in such a blur I wasn't quite sure whether Mo Farah was with the lead group, but thirty seconds later we got our answer as Mo passed with the second pace maker. I was a bit surprised not to see him with the leaders, but it was the sensible choice to run his own race.

The Mobot!

In the third pace group was the the first Kent runner. It was good to see that unlike last year, they'd given the sharp end of the club runners a pace maker. Although unbelievably they didn't let anyone know what time the pace runner would be going for. Not particularly helpful.

We then had a short wait for me runners from my club and other friends to come past us. I did my to give all of them a big shout as I always get a boost when someone calls my name during a marathon.

The third pack featuring John from Kent AC

After the quicker club runners the huge crowds started to arrive. We didn't manage to spot any celebrities this year, after my Michel Roux spot last time. We saw quite a few people in fancy dress, include one man who was doing it incredibly tough carrying a fridge on his back for charity. I gave a loud cheer for someone from Didcot Runners who was probably left wondering who the heck I was.

The last runner we saw before heading off for a coffee was my uni friend Ed. He was looking relaxed and in good form when he passed us. I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera so the only shot I have of him is from the back. However, it does show off my Camelbak rather nicely that I lent to him!

Ed

My running club, Kent AC, had a good day. John Gilbert was selected to run for GB in the European Championships this summer based on his performance and we won the club championships for the second year in a row. However, quite a few people performed just a bit slower than the times they were hoping for. It was a pretty hot day which wouldn't have helped.