London Marathon 2022

The London Marathon 2022 which stretched from Greenwich Park and finished in St James’ Park was a phenomenal race. The route went through the likes of Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and City of London where the crowds cheered their loved ones on. A phenomenal 42,000 people took part in the marathon this year which included rhinos, spiderman and even Mr Bean. The atmosphere was incredible as the audience members cheered on those who were losing motivation or who were so close to finishing and just needed a final push to reach the end. It was heart-warming to see people of all abilities taking part and raising money for something close to their hearts. With so much excitement on the day, lets recap some of the Wheelchair highlights during the 26.2-mile-long race.

At 08:50 AM Lioness Leah Williamson, sounded the buzzer for the Elite Wheelchair race to begin. Amazingly, by the time most people had started the race, many Elite Wheelchair racers had already made the 26.2-mile journey across London and received their beautiful 2022 medals. The British Para Athlete David Weir was taking part in the marathon this year after having won the marathon eight times in the past. This year, spectators saw a sprint to the finish between David Weir, Marcel Hug and David Romanchuk. It was close, but Hug finished the race in 1st for Switzerland, Romanchuk in 2nd for USA and Weir celebrated 3rd with 1 hour 30 minutes and 23 seconds. The joy in their faces as they crossed the finish line was incomparable to anything else. Weir himself told Athletics Weekly that the Marathon, for him, is far bigger than the Paralympics and you could definitely see this on his face when he soared through the finish line.

In the Women’s Elite Wheelchair race, Eden-Rainbow Cooper took 3rd place for Britain, Susannah Scaroni from USA was 2nd and Catherine Debrunner made it a Swiss double victory by finishing in 1st. Although she led quite a solitary race at the front, her happiness at the end was amazing to see. Debrunner finished the race with an incredible time of 1 hour 38 minutes and 24 seconds. It has also only been a week since she won the Berlin Marathon, so needless to say she was incredibly proud taking her second marathon win. As Cooper went on to cross the line, she celebrated with a huge smile on her face. At only 21, this is an amazing achievement at her first ever London Marathon. If she competes in April 2023, it will certainly be something to watch.

It was also nice to see non-elite wheelchair racers compete alongside the masses of people running the marathon. There was a real sense of everyone running for their own reason but at the same time supporting and stopping for each other if someone was in need. Chris Evans mentioned on his breakfast radio show this morning that it was the greatest number of spectators he had ever seen. Needless to say, the atmosphere was breath-taking.

With the 2022 marathon now over, the next London Marathon has returned to its original date in April. With Covid 19 affecting the marathon in 2020, since then people have really been more motivated than ever to take part. So, we can expect to see just as many competitors next year and even more supporters cheering everyone along.