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London Marathon is now
an annual event |
1981: Triumph at first London
Marathon |
England have
Thousands of people have jogged through the normally quiet Sunday
streets of the capital to compete in the first ever London marathon.
Pounding along the 26 mile (41.84 km) route from Greenwich Park, in
south east London, to Buckingham Palace, 6,700 participants turned out in
drizzle to complete the gruelling run.
The boom of a 25 lb (11.34 kg) cannon sent the marathon runners,
ranging from a 15-year-old girl to septuagenarians , on their way at 0900 BST.
The sportsmanship of the event was evident as American Dick Beardsley,
24, and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, 25, won the race crossing through the
tape hand in hand after two hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds.
Joyce Smith, a Briton was the first female to cross the finishing line,
in 2:29:56.
About seven hours after the start Marie Dominque de Groot, 30, from
Paris and David Gaiman, 47, from East Grinstead ran past the finish line
holding hands as the final contestants across the line.
Most finished
An estimated 80% of those who took part are understood to have crossed
the finish line and participants included celebrities such as Jimmy
Saville, who raised ?0,000 for charity.
More than 22,000 people wanted to run but the figure was kept to 7,590
by police.
The race, taking in the banks of the Thames and the City of London,
contained more turns than its New York sister event and was 30 yards
longer than the official marathon distance.
At regular intervals 1,000 volunteer helpers marked the route, joined
by 500 special constables, 26 first-aid stations and 300 St John Ambulance
personnel while cardiac unit was on hand at Constitution Hill.
The marathon is the brainchild of Chris Brasher, former Olympic
Steeplechaser and was organised with a budget of ?00,000 from which 2,000
foil blankets, 75 portable lavatories, 400 gallons of coffee and 50,000
plastic cups were supplied.