An eye-witness account of the London Marathon

An eyewitness account of the London Marathon

This article is about the whole experience of covering the London Marathon. The title is misleading, but we will come to that in due course.

People are often envious of what I do. Take the Paris Olympics. I had the best seat in the house, in the Stade de France, to watch Noah Lyles win the 100m, that incredible men’s 1500m final, an epic women’s pole vault event, etc. Then, I had the opportunity to speak to the athletes afterwards.

Watching a marathon is different in any case. A good seat at a track event high up on the home straight gives a perfect view of the finish and the whole track.  Unless you are in a helicopter, there is nowhere to get a view of the entire marathon course.  I was talking to a BBC radio commentator who told me he once did commentary on a LONDON Marathon from MANCHESTER, where BBC Sport is based. They had decided that, technically, it was easier to do it from Manchester, 200 miles away.

Sorry to disillusion you, but your “eye-witness” did not see any of the race! I was in the media center,  a tent about 200 meters past the finish, watching the races on a big screen or split screen to keep on top of the different races.  In addition to the BBC TV commentary, our media announcer constantly updated us on times and placings as the races developed. A few years ago, we were based at a hotel by Tower Bridge, so it was possible to pop out and watch the runners as they crossed the bridge. Here, there was no access to the course.

Back to my tent, with coffee and cookies on demand, the location close to the finish has one significant advantage.  The mixed zone, where journalists interview athletes, which is in our tent, is much closer to the finish than when the media center was at Tower Bridge. Thus, we get our interviews much quicker.

I travelled to London by bus from Oxford this morning, leaving at 6:25 a.m. There were people boarding the bus with running shoes. The bus company offered free travel for runners, but not athletics writers! Before and especially after the race, I saw loads of runners. And after the race, we had the opportunity to speak with elite athletes.

But there is no getting away from it: a major marathon is a lot harder to watch than a track or field event.