WETHERSPOONS LONDON MARATHON
Our friend Carven is running the London Marathon on April 26. She is raising funds for Crohn's & Colitis UK - a cause close to her heart as a registrar in General Surgery.
Click here to sponsor Carven.
For the rest of us lazy bastards who can't be arsed to run - why not do something equally demanding - a Wetherspoons pub crawl around the course (other pubs are available, but not from 8am) ...
Stop 1: Gate Clock, Cutty Sark for breakfast from 8am.
Stop 2: (optional) Surrey Docks, Surrey Quays
Stop 3: Ledger Building, Canary Wharf - see the runners twice, in and out of the Isle of Dogs loop
Stop 4: Liberty Bounds, Tower Bridge (north bank) although the Pommeler's Rest (south bank) might be quieter. This is the 22 mile mark, but they also cross Tower Bridge after 12 miles before heading off to the Isle of Dogs.
Stop 5: The finish in the Mall. Sadly, the Lord Moon of the Mall in Whitehall is no longer a Spoons. It is now the Horse and Guardsman (a nice McMullan's pub, although it will be busy). Nearest Spoons - Wetherspoons Victoria Station and The Willow Walk - around 15 mins walk to the finish.
If, like us, you are supporting someone, you can track them by downloading the official TCS London Marathon App and entering their name or bib number.
Wheelchair race (first on the course) – expected lead times
| Location | Distance | Estimated time of day |
|---|
| Cutty Sark | ~6 miles | ~9:07–9:10 am |
| Surrey Quays / Rotherhithe | ~9–10 miles | ~9:12–9:17 am |
| Tower Bridge (first pass) | ~12–13 miles | ~9:18–9:22 am |
| Canary Wharf (first entry) | ~17–18 miles | ~9:28–9:33 am |
| Canary Wharf (second pass / exit loop) | ~19–20 miles | ~9:33–9:38 am |
| Tower Hill / return west | ~22 miles | ~9:40–9:45 am |
| Finish (The Mall) | 26.2 miles | ~10:15–10:25 am |
Elite women and men start later and will finish in the Mall at around 1120 and 1140 respectively.
Finally, some of my personal London Marathon anecdotes. They will be very familiar to many of you, having heard them in the pub ...
In 2020, when the race was postponed because of covid, I decided to run my own marathon at home on a treadmill. The plan: take all day, include regular stops for food and
wine, and enjoy the only completely flat London Marathon (sadly, no downhill
setting on my treadmill). Apart from the guy in a diving suit, it might be the slowest London Marathon ever - and if I failed to finish no-one would know. Serious preparation began, naturally, with a Spotify playlist:
Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Running in the Family - Level 42
Walk Don't Run - Ventures
Walk of Life - Dire Straits
Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
Run - Snow Patrol
Run - Leona Lewis
Running Up That Hill - First Aid Kit
The Trap: Main Theme - Ron Goodwin (BBC London Marathon title music)
Marathon - Santana
You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers
Unfortunately, a few weeks before my treadmill challenge my left hip began to play up - I've since had a hip replacement. My surgeon tells me the right one isn't looking too clever so it looks like I'll never run a marathon - and certainly not in front of thousands of drunken spectators.
Back in 1981, I was working on the very first London Marathon for BBC Sport. It wasn't live and I was tasked with overseeing a quick-turnround VT edit of the "fun runners" from a hand-written list of highlights. When I'd finished my 20 minute edit - which was close to it going on air - I was informed I needed to take a shot list up to the gallery for the commentators to voice 'as live'. So I retrieved my crumpled list from the bin, rushed upstairs. and handed it to David Coleman.
"What the bloody hell is this!" said David (off-mic).
I apologised and said I needed to go back to VT.
"You're not going anywhere, sunshine".
So I spent the next 20 minutes sitting between David and Stuart Storey scribbling notes (in capitals). All things considered, it went rather well. However, ever since the BBC has broadcast the London Marathon live.
A few years later, at a London Marathon planning meeting, BBC event editor John Rawlinson insisted
we needed a shot of “Bobby Nedds”. Much confusion followed, with producers trawling through (paper) start lists until it was
clarified: “the mass start… all the bobbin’ heads.”
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