🏅 An iconic event on the UK sporting calendar, the 2025 TCS London Marathon featuring a cast of thousands is all set for more sporting history on the streets of London on Sunday 27 April.
The London Marathon celebrates its 45th edition this April. A stellar line-up featuring the world’s greatest marathon runners are set to take part in this iconic race that first took place in 1981. In one if its strongest fields in history all four reigning Olympic and Paralympic champions – Sifan Hasson, Tamirat Tola, Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug – are set to take part. They are joined by the greatest marathon runner in history, Eliud Kipchoge. London Marathon spectating is free on the route!
Around 55,000 participants will run from Blackheath to The Mall in the traditional mass-participation London Marathon taking in famous landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge. An estimated 750,000 spectators will line the streets to cheer them on. Included in the field are some of the best athletes in the world competing in the elite wheelchair races, the para marathon championships, elite women’s race and elite men’s race.
👀 Read on for spectator information including Race Timings, Race Route, Viewing Tips and 2025 ‘Ones to Watch’!
LONDON MARATHON SPECTATING ESSENTIALS
🕘 Race start times
8.50am – Elite Wheelchair races.
9:05am – Elite Women’s Race.
9.35am – Elite Men’s Race
9:35am to 11.30am – Mass participants
📍 THE ROUTE – Tap here or see below for the London Marathon route map
Elite races start in Blackheath, Lewisham. The mass race starts at Blackheath and Greenwich Park. From Blackheath the race heads east through Charlton and Woolwich for three miles, turns west and passes the Cutty Sark in Greenwich after six to seven miles. It crosses the River Thames at Tower Bridge (just before the 13.1 mile mark) before looping around the east end of London, past Canary Wharf in Docklands, before heading west again along the Highway and the Embankment to Parliament Square, Birdcage Walk and the final corner in front of Buckingham Palace to finish on The Mall. Use the Transport for London website to navigate the different parts of the course.
VIEWING TIPS
🎟️ London Marathon spectating is free on the course.
🔎 London Marathon spectating – recommended viewing spots:
Miles 9 and 11 are within 800 metres of each other providing an opportunity to see the runners twice on a relatively quiet part of the course. Nearest stations, Canada Water underground and Surrey Quays DLR.
Mile 13 and Mile 22 on E Smithfield is where you can see the runners go out and back from the same vantage point. Nearest stations, Tower Hill underground and Tower Gateway DLR.
Mile 15 and 18 are also in close proximity. Nearest station, Canary Wharf underground.
Be aware that on the busiest areas of the course spectators can be several deep on the barriers. This makes it difficult to get a clear view of the runners unless you arrive early to secure a place. These areas include Greenwich town centre and Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and from mile 24 on the Embankment to the finish on The Mall.
LONDON MARATHON SPECTATING – 2025 ‘ONES TO WATCH’
Women’s Race
Current Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) is the headline act in the 2025 London Marathon elite women’s race (full start list here) after world record holder Ruth Chepngetich and reigning London champion Peres Jepchirchir withdrew in the lead up to the race.
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa is Hassan’s main rival. Assefa is the second-fastest woman of all time after her 2:11:53 clocking at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. Three-time podium finisher in London, Joyciline Jepkosgei, should also feature among the leaders.
2018 London Marathon champion Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) is a late addition to race and returns for the first time in five years. Cheruiyot is the 2016 Olympic Games 5,000m champion and four-time World Championships gold medallist. She has run the London Marathon three times, winning in 2018 and finishing runner-up in 2019.
British interest is spearheaded by Scottish star Eilish McColgan. McColgan, the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion, is making her long-awaited debut over 26.2 miles.
Other British women to look out for include Rose Harvey, who finished last year’s Paris Olympic marathon despite sustaining a broken leg during the race. Charlotte Purdue, the third-fastest British female marathoner of all time and Phily Bowden, who went ninth on the all-time British list when she ran 2:25:47 at the 2024 BMW Berlin Marathon.
Men’s Race
The elite men’s race (full start list here) sees defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao (KEN) return to defend his title. Munyao’s win at last year’s TCS London Marathon was the biggest of his career and helped him win selection on the Kenyan marathon team for the Paris Olympic Games.
Munyao’s opponents will include the reigning Olympic champion and 2023 New York City marathon champion Tamirat Tola (ETH), the seventh-fastest man in history. And making his debut in the marathon, reigning world cross county champion Jacob Kiplimo is a real threat. The Ugandan has immense pedigree. He’s a an Olympic 10,000m medallist and the the second-fastest man in history over the half-marathon distance (57:31). Watch out too for Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe who turned heads last December winning the Valencia Marathon. Sawe’s time of of 2:02:05 was the fastest marathon debut in history.
Top British runners include Mahamed Mahamed (who finished fourth last year in London to secure his place at the Paris Olympics), Jack Rowe, Olympian Phil Sesemann and Jake Smith. Triathlon superstar Alex Yee, will also be in the mix. Yee, the men’s gold medallist and team bronze medallist in the triathlon at Paris 2024, is making his marathon debut.
Unfortunately Emile Cairess is ruled out due to injury. Cairess finished third last year in a time of 2:06:46 to go second on the British man’s all-time list behind Mo Farah’s time of 2:05:11, ahead of a great run at the Olympic Games in Paris where he finished just outside the podium places.
The Goat returns
Also in the field is the ‘GOAT’ himself, Eliud Kipchoge. Revered as the greatest marathon runner in history, the two-time Olympic champion is the only human to have run inside two hours over the marathon distance. The 40-year-old returns to the streets of the capital for the first time since 2022. A four-time winner of the London Marathon, can the magical Kenyan make it five?
Who will reign supreme in the latest running of this iconic race? All will be revealed on the streets of the capital and London Marathon spectating is free at one of the great dates in the UK sporting calendar!
Wheelchair Women’s Race
In the elite women’s wheelchair event, reigning Olympic champion Catherine Debrunner is the racer to beat. The Swiss athlete will face fierce competition from her countrywomen Manuela Schar (SUI) who is a three-time London Marathon champion. And Susannah Scaroni (USA), the reigning TCS New York City marathon champion, and Madison de Rozario (AUS) both have the potential to spring a surprise.
British star for Eden Rainbow-Cooper cannot be ruled out. Rainbow-Cooper won her first Abbott World Marathon Major last year when she tamed the famous hills of the Boston Marathon. Now she will be looking to challenge again on the London course. The 23-year-old, who competed at her first Paralympic Games last summer, has a best-placed finish of third at the London Marathon from 2022.
Wheelchair Men’s Race
In the elite men’s wheelchair event, Marcel Hug is the man to beat. The Swiss star took the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. He is a five-time winner of the London marathon. Hug’s main threat could come from the USA’s Daniel Romanchuk. Romanchuk is the reigning TCS New York City marathon champion and finished second in the capital last year. He’ll look to regain the London Marathon title he won in 2019.
British interest will be lead by the legend who is David Weir. Weir is racing in the London Marathon for an incredible 26th time in a row. The 45-year-old, who has won the London Marathon a record eight times, announced that the Paris Paralympic Games would be his last track competition. But his passion for racing on the roads shows no sign of slowing down. Weir showed he is still very much competitive on the world stage by finishing second at last year’s New York City Marathon.
LONDON MARATHON – 2024 RACE REVIEW
CONGRATULATIONS to Peres Jepchirchir who won an enthralling 2024 London Marathon Elite Women’s Race in a women’s only world-record time of 2:16:16. Jepchirchir, from Kenya, broke free of her Ethiopian rivals Tigst Assefa and Megertu Alemu in the closing stages of the race. All three went under the previous world record of 2:17:01 held by Mary Keitany. On her marathon debut, Mhairi MacLennan was the top Brit home in a personal best 2:29:15.
In the Elite Men’s Race, Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso Munyao beat the great Kenenisa Bekele. Munyao won in a time of 2:04:01. The home crowd were treated to Emile Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed finishing in third and fourth respectively. Cairess finished in a time of 2:06:46 to go second on the British man’s all-time list. He was also the first Brit to finish on the podium since Mo Farah in 2018. Both Brits secured their place on the Team GB plane to the Paris Olympics later this summer.
In the Elite Wheelchair Races, a Swiss double was the order of the day. Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug secured convincing victories. Debrunner finished over six minutes clear of fellow Swiss athlete Manuela Schar. Hug made it four wins on the spin in the London Marathon. He finished ahead of USA’s Daniel Romanchuk in second place and Great Britain’s David Weir in third. Weir, an eight-time winner of the London Marathon, was competing in the race for the 25th year in a row.
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