Sonia O’Sullivan: Long winter months pay off for marathon runners in London

Spring is supposedly in the air, even if it feels like we’re still getting four seasons in one day. Although for runners, this doesn’t just mean increasing temperatures, longer stretches in the evenings, and running through trails bordered with pretty primroses and bluebells.

It’s also means spring marathon season is in the air, and runners who have been training hard throughout the winter months have been testing themselves throughout Europe and the US.

Not just elite athletes chasing Olympic qualifying standards, but runners of all shapes and sizes with a specific marathon target that has kept them out on the roads and parks throughout the long winter months.

I spent the weekend in London, as close to the spring marathon action as you can get without competing. It is 10 years now since I last ran in the London Marathon, where I set my best time of 2:29:01, which is still hanging in there as the third fastest time by an Irish woman.

I stayed at the Tower Hotel, overlooking Tower Bridge, which will be known to many elite marathoners that have run the London Marathon. It is close to the halfway point of the marathon, and also less than four miles from the finish line, as the course loops around again back towards the finish at the Mall.

It’s actually at this point that the race organisers recommend you drop out if you are unable to make it to the finish line: the only issue here is the crowds are so deep it is nearly impossible to get off the course.

I know this from experience, as the thought did cross my mind in 2006, as the blisters formed on the bottom of my feet. I’m so glad now there was no easy exit and I was able to finish one of the greatest marathons in the world, and record my fastest marathon time.

The elite athletes and many of the celebrity runners are bussed to the start line in Blackheath at 7:30am. With the help of a police escort they arrive at 8am – time to lie down, relax and contemplate what lies ahead.

Everything must work like clockwork and athletes are ushered to the bus sitting on Tower Bridge at 7am. At the weekend, I came down to see a few athletes as they headed off, and the hotel lobby was cleared by 6:55am. There was a slight drizzle of rain and the cobblestones, which thankfully are no longer part of the marathon route, were quite wet and slippery as I set off for a gentle morning jog.

Surreal place

London can be a surreal place at that early hour, particularly on the weekends: it is a city at rest, and you get the chance to explore and view the iconic buildings and bridges in a clear, calm stillness.

I ran over Tower Bridge feeling very small beneath the towers and grand archways, then along empty streets, and the only people I passed were other runners breaking the silence with their pitter-patter on the pavement along Butlers Wharf, and gently breathing in the cool crisp air.

I was back in time to catch the start of the marathon on the big screen, while eating breakfast. The plan for the day was to watch the first hour or so of the women’s race live on TV, and once the main race of 39,000 got started, along with the elite men, I’d head out to Tower Bridge and get a glimpse of the leading women as they approached halfway.

The atmosphere and noise on the bridge was exhilarating: you could feel the energy building as the athletes approached, subtle but intriguing differences that you don’t notice while watching on TV.

From there, it was off to the tube station, to get to the finish line and watch some more on the big screen, before cheering the runners home. Again, it meant getting a real sense of how the athletes look as they turn that final corner and race down the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace to the finish line.

It was packed on arrival, and without race accreditation there was no way of getting near the stands at the finish line. It wasn’t long before we had a very exciting finish. Jemima Sumgong from Kenya had to overcome a fall with 7km to go, then nearly crashed into a spectator who wandered onto the course as the athletes ran the final miles alongside the River Thames – yet she still she managed to win.

Small margin

The men’s race was even more exciting with Eliud Kipchoge so close to breaking the world record. I don’t think he or anyone else realised just how close he was, until he saw the clock overhead at the finish line, his time of 2:03:05 just eight seconds slower than the current world record. It seems incomprehensible an athlete can miss a world record by such a small margin over a race of 26.2 miles.

There’s always so much going on at the finish line, and it’s fascinating to watch how it all runs so smoothly.

It’s like a well-oiled machine that improves with age, everything done with speed and efficiency. Initially the women run down the centre lane, then the men, and the clock too changes overhead, as the men started 45 minutes after the women.

Once the presentations are complete, the stands are cleared and all lanes are opened up for the masses that come streaming in, the runners that inspire everyone on the sidelines to ask themselves: “Will I run next year?”