Falling Down the Thames Blog 19, 23rd July 2014
The London Marathon – To Run or Not To Run
Crossing the finish line after running 42.2 km and immediately hopping back in our canoe to resume our 350km paddle down the Thames, is what Glen and I had envisioned. If we are out to experience everything the River Thames has to offer, then it seems only natural that we would set out to run the 2015 London Marathon as part of our Falling Down the Thames adventure. Off I went to secure our entries…
The London Marathon is one of the world’s three largest marathons, with 46,000 finishers annually. It is a flat and scenic course that follows the north and south banks of the River Thames through central London. The year 2015 will be its 35th running and will occur in early to mid April. This all seemed perfectly suited to our FDtT goals.
Then came the reality of registration. There are a few ways to enter the London Marathon, and registering online is not one of them. The legitimate options include by lottery, through an official tour operator, or through an official charity. As the London Marathon Committee strictly limits the number of spots available to runners from overseas, our chances appeared very slim. One third of all the entry spots are occupied by charities; however the amount of money needed to be raised by each runner is often (and understandably) in the multitude of thousands.
Hoping to stumble across some tips, I started reading running group forums with threads about entering the London Marathon. Many respondents indicated that they have applied year after year and have not been selected through the ballot. Others have reported that they were unable to find an available charity spot as those too fill up very quickly. Tour operators too sell out quickly and many give priority to a select subset of members.
Feeling discouraged, Glen and I regrouped. “Why again are we trying to run London?” “Oh yeah, because we are both runners and the race courses along the Thames and how fun would that be!” We suddenly and simultaneously concluded that London couldn’t possibly be our only option. There must be other foot races in April that follow a course along the River Thames.
A quick Google search revealed two: the Fuller’s Thames Towpath 10-miler and the Ranelagh Harriers Richmond Half-marathon. The former is organized by the West 4 Harriers and involves a scenic, flat and fast 16km run along the Thames Towpath, past Kew Garden, Syon House, Old Deer Park, and back to Chiswick. The latter is a flat fast figure-of-eight 21.1km race in early May on the roads and towpaths of Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston.
Fabulous! Both of these races would be a terrific interlude to our multiday paddling trip, and would allow us to see some of the Thames by foot while profiling a small local foot race. We are naturally gravitating toward the Thames Towpath 10 because of the word “Thames” in its title. But we will approach both organizers and see what comes of it. We will now need to add “long distance running” to our preparation for Falling Down the Thames.
- Krista
Photo credits: The route of the 2013 London Marathon – prafulla.net; “Save the Rhinos” charity runners, huffpost.com; runners waiting for the starting gun at the 2013 London Marathon – ibtimes.co.uk