"Elite races for men, women and wheelchair athletes will take place on an enclosed looped course in St James’s Park in a secure biosphere (a contained safe environment like that of Formula 1 and England cricket) and times will be eligible for Olympic qualification.
...
Everyone with a place in the 2020 event will still have the chance to take part in The 40th Race by running the famous 26.2 mile marathon distance from home or anywhere in the world on the course of their choice. All finishers will receive the coveted finisher medal and New Balance finisher T-shirt. In addition, all runners and charities will also be able to defer their place to a future London Marathon – in 2021, 2022 or 2023.
In 2021, the London Marathon will move from its usual April date to Sunday 3 October to give the best chance for the mass race to return in 2021."
Thanks for sharing roseabi I don’t think it would have been possible to run the event with loads of runners with things as they are. It’s so sad because loads of people will have put the effort in, so I hope they manage to do a ‘virtual’ London Marathon at least. There will be so much sponsorship money that charities will have missed out on too. 😢 I think we might as well write off any major events this year and hope for better news next year. In the meantime there are loads of virtual challenges to keep us going!🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️
Yes they are doing a virtual event - "running the famous 26.2 mile marathon distance from home or anywhere in the world on the course of their choice. All finishers will receive the coveted finisher medal and New Balance finisher T-shirt."
I guess T-shirts and medals have the year on so why not give them out to everyone that does it virtually. Great they get a deferral to 2021 too. Doesn’t bode well for the great south run though - also October.
I don’t know what took them so long... there’s been no way on earth that 40,000 people were running together for a good while now.
I also saw that BBC sport have committed to still giving this 8 hours of coverage... no clue what they’re going to show for 8 hours. I’m guessing the races will be completely separate now instead of staggering them for the “no mixed races” rules in the women’s record books.
I’m rethinking what the event is... it’s not the London Marathon, it’s probably going to be the best race in (at least) men’s marathon history, but it’s something else this year.
I just feel sorry for all the mere mortal runners who’ve been messed about for too long.
Great that they’ve made that wise decision, even though it’s clearly disappointing for everyone who’s been in training and were looking forward to running in London. Still, a close second is that they’re offering a virtual version. The medals and teeshirts already say 2020, so a no brainer. What a waste otherwise!
I’m delighted a decision has finally been made. Now galvanising family and friends to run and cheer me round a local route!! Think my time might suffer as I was hoping for crowd power but I’ll get there. Then decide when next. If I leave it until 2022 I’ll be 65 which has an interesting ring to it!!! X
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