“Records will be set all over the place,” says Hugh Brasher ahead of weekend

“It is going to be an incredible day, both on Saturday and Sunday, both from an international athlete point of view, a British athlete point of view, a participant point of view, and we believe there will be records set all over the place.  
 
“We’re expecting more than 56,000 finishers at this year’s TCS London Marathon, which will be a Guinness World Record, and before that we've got some absolutely stunning racing.  

On the elite races:  

“All four Olympic champions from Paris 2024 will be racing. How many people can remember the argy-bargy between Tigst Assefa and Sifan Hassan as they finished the Olympic marathon – and whether that will be happening as they come round Birdcage Walk, onto Spur Road and then onto The Mall, I have no idea, but I'm sure it's going be a quite incredible day. They may go for Peres Jepchirchir’s women’s-only world record, which sits at just over two hours and 16 minutes. 

“I think we're going to have some incredible performances in the men's elite race too. We’ve got our defending champion, Alexander Mutiso, and Sabastian Sawe, who did the second-fastest debut ever at the Valencia Marathon last year. And who knows what Jacob Kiplimo is going to do, having broken the world record for a half marathon and he's debuting here in London. 

“He ran 56:42, which was a world record by 48 seconds – the biggest-ever world record –and you just never know what he’s going to do. 

“Then we have the GOAT coming back, the greatest of all time, Eliud Kipchoge, and in both wheelchair events we have incredible fields. Marcel Hug keeps coming back and winning, although he’s not quite matched David Weir’s record, but we've also got some incredible British athletes taking part.  

“Alex Yee, Olympic champion in triathlon at the Paris 2024 Games will be racing, and Eilish McColgan will be making her debut, so we've got some absolutely incredible performances [to look forward to] from elite athletes.” 

On how the London Marathon is leading the way: 

“But we're also looking at how we can provide leadership as an event. Last year, the London Marathon became the first-ever global sports event to have parity on prize money for the wheelchair athletes.  

“In terms of sustainability, we’ve just announced that London Marathon Events is the first company ever to be awarded Evergreen status by the Council for Responsible Sport.”  

On the Spirit of the London Marathon: 

“We’re also looking forward to seeing some fantastic celebrities from the sports world taking part, including Sir Jason Kenny, Sir Alastair Cook and Sir Andrew Strauss.  

“[Comedian] Romesh Ranganathan is running for the second time, and there are some really emotive human-interest stories. Lindsey Burrow, the wife of Rob Burrow who sadly passed away from MND [motor neurone disease], is running in his memory and fundraising. There are some unbelievable stories; the London Marathon really shows the greatest side of humanity and it really does bring people and communities together.   

“If you go back to 1981, when Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen, through their emotional connection decided not to race those last hundred metres, they decided to do it hand-in-hand and that truly set the spirit of the London Marathon and what we're all about and we’re really looking forward to an incredible day on Sunday.” 

On the 40th Mini London Marathon: 

“The 40th Mini London Marathon will take place on Saturday, with 17,000 kids taking part, and we also have hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren taking part in the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools, which has an incredible partnership with the Joe Wicks Foundation. He is also taking part in the TCS London Marathon.  

“This year, we had 25,000 kids apply in 48 hours to run the TCS Mini London Marathon. The goal by 2030 is to have 50,000 kids taking part. The team here is doing the most amazing job trying to attract kids who wouldn't normally have sport in their school activities.  

“Sports should be a human right – they are a United Nations human right – and not a privilege that’s only open to those in fee-paying schools and the more that we can campaign, the better the place that society will be in.  

“That is what London Marathon Events and the Foundation are all about. The Foundation has granted more than £110 million to projects to inspire activity across the UK and that's why this event is more than just this weekend.  

“We are a social purpose organisation, trying to ensure that activity is the basic human right of every young person in the world, but particularly at the moment in this country.” 

On the Guinness World Record for the biggest-ever marathon: 

“We work with an incredible crowd modelling scientist called Marcel Altenburg [at Manchester Metropolitan University] and we also work with Transport for London and the Mayor's Office to look at the road closures that we need [for the event].  

“We have to put in a five-year plan, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We look at a whole raft of factors. We’ve got an additional Start Assembly Area [this year]. We're also starting half an hour earlier and the start process lasts half an hour longer, so it goes over a two-hour period rather than a 90-minute period.

“And through this modelling and knowledge, we know that the course this year with 56,000 finishers will be less crowded than it was in 2019 with 42,000 finishers. And yes, we know we can go bigger, but we are still a relatively conservative organisation in taking things in stages. We had 53,900 finishers last year, so if we're 56,900 this year, that's 3,000 more, or just over 5%. It's not a massive increase, but a huge amount of work has gone on with London, with the boroughs, with the clean-up operation, as we have a duty to reopen London streets. 

“Last year, 840,000 people applied to enter this year's event. That makes us more popular than the next five Abbott World Marathon Majors put together. We’re delighted to say that we’re the most popular marathon on the planet. We have a duty to try to inspire activity, it’s the very purpose of London Marathon Events.  

“And it’s such an incredible feeling that you get, unlike anything you will feel in your life, by doing the London Marathon and we want to encourage that. We hope that future generations will come to a lifetime of activity, as running is proven to be a great way to improve people’s mental health.” 

On the weather forecast for Sunday:  

“At the moment it's looking like it could be a warm day. It could be 20 or 21 degrees Celsius, which is warm for running a marathon. It could also rain. We will be letting participants know about the weather – and the early start for the elite athletes will help without a doubt and we should see some incredible performances on Sunday.” 

On Eliud Kipchoge’s prospects:  
 
“Eliud has been the most unbelievable ambassador for the sport, and for the London Marathon. He’s started the kids’ event. He's won the London Marathon four times. We are so delighted that he is back this year, and we intend to honour him. I hope this won’t be his last marathon.” 

On Jacob Kiplimo’s marathon debut: 

“It’s going to be the most fascinating debut ever. I think it’s feasible that he could take Kelvin Kiptum's record as the fastest debutant. What is he going to do on the day? I have no idea whether he's going to go through halfway in 61 minutes or 62 minutes, but when you compare his half marathon time to Eliud’s it’s so much quicker.  

“I'm just delighted that he's chosen to make his debut here. I think it's going to be fascinating. Do I think he could be the athlete that runs under two hours? Yes, but let's see what happens on Sunday.” 

On Eilish McColgan’s marathon debut: 

“She is a brilliant athlete. Her debut is going to be fascinating. She's putting a lot more pressure on herself than I would if I was of her standard, but she knows far more than anybody else about how she responds and what pressure she should put herself under, so we are delighted that she's here and fascinated to see how she performs. 

“I think it's abhorrent the abuse that Eilish has had [on social media] and I think people just need to look at themselves and ask why on earth they are doing that. How she has held herself and responded is exemplary.  

“Some social media channels are particularly vitriolic, and as a result London Marathon Events has come off one of those channels. 

“Everybody's body is different and there is no standard. We're trying to encourage people to be themselves. The London Marathon is about positivity. One of the aims of my father [Chris Brasher] and John Disley was to show that on occasion the family of humankind could be joyous together, celebrate together. That's what the London Marathon is about. It’s a force for good.”