🏅 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. Spectating is free on the route.
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.
Some 50,000 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. Included in the field will be 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, the 2025 ‘Ones to Watch’ and a review of the 2024 race!
SPECTATING ESSENTIALS
🕘 Race start times (subject to confirmation)
9.15am – Elite Wheelchair races.
9:30am – Elite Women’s Race.
10.00am – Elite Men’s Race and Mass Start.
🎟️ Spectating is free on the course. See below for the London Marathon route map and a description of the course. And click here to download a copy.
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📍 The route: 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.
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 – 2025 ‘ONES TO WATCH’
Women’s Race
It’s official! New world record holder Ruth Chepngetich will headline a stellar cast at the 2025 London Marathon elite women’s Race.
Chepngetich stunned the world last October at the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. The 30-year-old Kenyan became the first woman in history to break the historic two hour 10-minute barrier for the marathon. Chepngetich clocked a time of 2:09:56. Which knocked nearly two minutes off the previous world record set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in 2023. In total, she has run three of the 10 fastest women’s marathon times in history and is the only woman to run inside 2:16 on three separate occasions.
Joining Chepngetich on the start line is the current Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) and reigning London Marathon women’s champion and 2020 Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) in a mouthwatering match-up of marathon greats. Jepchirchir won last year’s London Marathon in a women’s only world-record time of 2:16:16.
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. Phily Bowden, who went ninth on the all-time British list when she ran 2:25:47 at the 2024 BMW Berlin Marathon and Lucy Reid, who ran 2:26:35 on her marathon debut in Malaga in December 2024.
Men’s Race
The elite men’s race sees defending champion Alex Mutiso (KEN) return to defend his title. Mutiso’s win at last year’s TCS London Marathon was the biggest of his career. It helped him win selection on the Kenyan marathon team for the Paris Olympic Games where he finished in 21st place.
Mutiso’s opponents this year will include the reigning Olympic champion and 2023 New York City marathon champion Tamirat Tola (ETH), the seventh-fastest man in history.
From a British perspective, all eyes will be on Emile Cairess who returns after finishing third last year ahead of his memorable run in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Paris where he finished just outside the podium places. At last year’s London Marathon, Cairess finished 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.
Joining Cairess are top British runners Mahamed Mahamed (who finished fourth last year in London to secure his place at the Paris Olympics), Jack Rowe, Olympians Phil Sesemann and Marc Scott, and triathlon superstar Alex Yee. Yee, the men’s gold medallist and team bronze medallist in the triathlon at Paris 2024, is making his marathon debut.
Who will reign supreme in the latest running of this iconic race? All will be revealed on the streets of the capital on one of the great dates in the sporting calendar!
Wheelchair Women’s Race
In the elite women’s wheelchair event, watch out for Eden Rainbow-Cooper. 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, 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.
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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