Organisers of the London Marathon are gearing up for what they hope is a record-breaking event this Sunday, boosted by a surge in popularity among young people.
Over 56,000 people are expected to take part in the 45th London Marathon – the largest number of participants recorded for major marathon – following a 43 per cent increase in ballot applications from last year.
The total number of ballot applications rose from 570,000 to 840,000, with the 20- to 29-year-old age group seeing an 105 per cent increase. The 20- to 29-year-old demographic is now the second-highest age group overall.
It leaves the CEO of the London Marathon, Hugh Brasher, optimistic about the future of the London Marathon as it nears the 50th anniversary of its first race, with organisers noticing a shift towards running and wider fitness trends from Gen Z.
“I think it's really interesting, when you look at society, how the younger demographic is,” Brasher said on Wednesday. “They drink 40 per cent less alcohol, they don’t work in the way that we used to pre-Covid, coming in [to an office] five days a week.
“It's going to be an incredible day - both from an international athlete point of view, a British athlete point of view, a participant point of view. We believe that there will be records set all over the place.”
Amid the recent withdrawals of women’s world record holder Ruth Chepngetich and 2024 winner Peres Jepchirchir, Brasher was also keen to highlight the notable elite athletes still taking part in this year’s event.
That includes all four gold medallists from the Paris 2024 Games, with Olympic champions Sifan Hassan and Tamirat Tola, plus Paralympic champions Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug all set to race on Sunday.
“We've got our defending men’s champion, Alex Mutiso. We've got Sebastian Sawe who did the second fastest ever debut at Valencia 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,” Brasher explained.
Elite wheelchair men’s and women’s races will kick things off in Blackheath on Sunday at 8.50am BST, followed by the elite women and elite men, then the staggered mass start. The race will follow the usual route, ending on the mall outside Buckingham Palace.
