The London Marathon the shame and the glory

THE WEEKEND saw Virgin Money take over the London Marathon for it's 39th year with over 40,000 people running.   It was spectacular and embarrassing at the same time.   Is there anything more British than that?

The route is through London so it's got to be amazing, with all that history right next to you, the major sights and the crowd just pushing you on.   It all starts off at Greenwich and goes around London (you have to remember that the City of London is only one mile square) and then down to Westminster.

The stars of the marathon were Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei who won the mens and womens elite races.   And what a spectaular sight it was when Kipchoge crossed that finish line.   Mo Farah trailed slightly behind and afterwards said, "He [Kipchoge] is a very special athlete and he is humble.   If Eliud can run those sort of times it just gives us another level of possibility."

The fun kicked off after this with the craziness that you can only expect from London.   Runners in normal attire, running club vests, superhero costumes and everything inbetween.   Where else can you see this type of behaviour in the world?   It's one of the most amazing sights you can ever witness and all on our own home turf.

Underneath it all there is something very British about the whole event.   We don't just do it, we do it in style and with great humour and spirit.   If we can run 26.2 miles then we are going to do it dressed as Big Ben and in the process raise a load of dosh for charity.   Everyone who ran London was amazing and will remember the day for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately not everybody will remember it for the right reasons.   Official pacer Liz Eyres stepped forward and told how she and fellow runners were treated "horrendously" during the race.

Liz was asked to run the course in 7.5 hours to aid participants.  She said runners were called "fat" and "slow" by contractors and volunteer marshals and one woman received chemical burns from the clean-up operation that began around them while people were still running the marathon.

It's a fact that when these events are run through major towns and cities the organisers have to get road closures in place.   These have to be strictly adhered to and runners who are behind the times have to either stop or move to the pavements as the city needs to come back to life.   However, there are ways and means and this is not how it should be done.

To read Liz's story as reported by the BBC click here.

It's a sad state of affairs when this type of thing happens and all I can hope is that the sponsors and organisers investigate this and ensure that it never happens again.   Not only were these people running their race but they were earning a lot of money for charities all over the country and world.

Lets not end this on a negative and talk about Hayley Carruthers.   Hayley gave London her all and then some more.   She ran down the Royal Mile all over the place due to exhaustion before, less than a metre away from the finish line, she collapsed.   With everything she had, this Spartan got up and somehow found it within herself to cross that finish line.

This was the real show, the determination was absolutely inspiring.  It was the moment you got up out of your seat and applauded.

David Smith journalist with The Herald Scotland did an amazing review of Hayley's efforts.   To read the story by David click here.

I have just got to half marathon status and next year I am going to have to seriously think about running a full marathon.   We should all be a little bit like Hayley.