How wrong can you be? – London Marathon comment

On hearing the awful news of the explosions at the Boston Marathon on Monday, my first comment was: "Big city marathons will never be the same."

How wrong I was. Yesterday’s marathon was as good, if not better, than ever before. It had everything: the fastest field of elite runners ever assembled (as per the photo above); thousands of one off entrants inspired to raise maney for charity; club runners who train all year to peak for this event; and people with a wide range of disabilities such as Richard Whitehead (below) who looked towards my camera at 20 miles yesterday.

And the crowds cheered every runner creating a din around the 26 mile course. The only time the capital was silent was for the 30 seconds before the race when the runners paused to reflect on the Boston tragedy. When John Disley and Chris Brasher said they could bring the best out of London by organising a marathon around the world famous sights people said it couldn’t be done. How wrong can you be?

Murray Lambden 22 April 2013