There were remarkable performances witnessed at this year’s London, with Sabastian Sawe running 1hr 59’30” and Yomif Kejelcha at 1hr 59’41” both smashing through the “holy grail” 2 hour mark. The standard has improved so much in recent years that although there were strong runs from British men this year, they were still 6 minutes behind the leaders. I thought I’d take a look back at earlier years of this great event, when Britons played a much more prominent role in proceedings. Starting with a nod to Trevor Wright, who whilst not winning the inaugural race in 1981, was the first Briton ever to cross the London marathon finish line when placing 3rd behind Inge Simonsen and Dick Beardsley in a time of 2hrs12’53”
By the late 1960s, the Australian Derek Clayton held the world best time of 2hrs08’33”, but this was disputed as possibly being a short course in Antwerp. He also had an undisputed 2hrs09’36” to his credit in the famous Fukuoka race in Japan. By the time of the first London marathon the accepted world marathon best stood at around 2hrs 09 minutes. There have been six British male winners of the London Marathon, but it has been 33 years since that last happened ! Here they are:
The 1982 race would see the first of a series or four successive victories for Britons in London, when Hugh Jones raced home in an impressive 2hrs09’24”. This remained his pb for the distance. He also competed in the 1984 LA Olympic games.
1983 saw Mike Gratton running for the Kent club Invicta, improving on his 1982 3rd place behind Hugh Jones to take the victory in 2hrs09’43”. This was also his pb. He also won a commonwealth games bronze medal in the Brisbane games later in 1982.
Charlie Spedding took the victory in the 1984 race with a time of 2hrs09’57”. He won the bronze medal in the LA olympics marathon later that year. He was to run quicker at London the following year, but not to victory !
The 1985 race was exceptional – Welshman Steve Jones, who already held the world record of 2hrs08’05”, raced to a fantastic 2hrs08’16”, with Charlie Spedding chasing him home for a 2hrs08’33” 2nd place. He improved his best in the 1985 Chicago marathon to 2hrs07’13”. This remained the fastest time for a Briton for 33 years, before finally being eclipsed by Mo Farah. Jones was awarded an O.B.E in 2019 for services to sport.
Scotsman Allister Hutton won the 1990 race in a time of 2hrs10’10”. His pb had been set at the 1985 race when he came 3rd in a time of 2hrs09’16”
The most recent British triumph in the London Marathon came in 1993, when the Essex athlete Eamonn Martin led the field home in a time of 2hrs10’50”
East African athletes have gained something of a stranglehold on long distance running success over the past 30 years or so, and I’ll take a look another time at some of the possible reasons why that is.
Kim
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On the subject of running..... 