The
London Marathon, one of the five
World Marathon Majors, has been contested by men and women annually since 29 March 1981. Set over a largely flat course around the
River Thames, the
marathon is in length
The inaugural marathon had 7,741 entrants, 6,255 of whom completed the race. The first Men's Elite Race was
tie between American
Dick Beardsley and Norwegian
Inge Simonsen, who crossed the
finish line holding hands in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds. The first Women's Elite Race was won by Briton
Joyce Smith in 2:29:57. In 1983, the first
wheelchair race took place. Organized by the
British Sports Association for the Disabled (BASD), 19 people competed and 17 finished.
Gordon Perry of the United Kingdom won the Men's Wheelchair Race, coming in at 3:20:07, and
Denise Smith, also of the UK, won the Women's Wheelchair Race in 4:29:03.
Twenty athletes representing the United Kingdom have won the London Marathon a total of forty times. The most recent win by a British athlete was in the 2011 London Marathon, by
David Weir in the Men's Wheelchair Race. It was his fifth win in London. Kenya has the second largest number...
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