Over 5000 runners treated as heat rises in London Marathon

by | Race Results, Sports

The London Marathon was today, and over 5000 runners were treated with over 70 being sent along to the hospital after the temperatures got up near 70°F. This equals the 1996 heat record for the race.

Martin Lel won the men’s race by three seconds in 2:07:41, outsprinting Abderrahim Goumri and Felix Limo. The lead men went through the halfway mark in 63:39, and just about everybody in the pack of elites got a turn to lead early in the race. Ryan Hall led the race at 35km, but fell back to 7th by the end of the race to finish as the first American.

Chunxiu Zhou ran a commanding race to finish first amongst the women in 2:20:38. Gete Wami finished second over a minute later, with Constantina Tomescu-Dita trailing in third. The women were right on their goal pace for the halfway marker, coming through in 69:58. Yolando Mercado Torres was the first American woman, finishing over 22 minutes behind the Chunxiu Zhou. She kept a very consistent pace throughout the race.

The marathon had a record field size this year, with 35,674 finishers. Almost 50,000 registrations were accepted of the 125,000 applicants, with over 36,000 reaching the starting line.

(Sources: Flora London Marathon – BBC.com)