Flora London Marathon – Start

This is a great race to watch, the atmosphere is amazing!
Last year the weather was really bad but that didnt stop all the people turning up to support the runners and enjoy street parties!
I would reccomend getting there for 13:00 — 14:00 as then most people are around and the atmosphere is at its best.
I would say leave you car at home and don’t use taxis — the traffic is really bad and many roads are closed.
Use the DLR and Underground to get around the route, see:
for info on where to see and at what time.
A must see is the finnish line however it does get very busy and the seated area here is for tickets only.

So here’s where it all begins to get there you may have been crammed like sardines on the tube or a train from London Bridge. Then they make sure you are warmed up by a fairly long walk up a hill from Greenwich. (If you are among those instructed to come that way: they send some to other stations). So much for only covering 26.2 miles at least you can take some comfort from the fact that it’s by far the steepest hill you’ll face all day!
The start area will be familiar to anyone who’s been to festival. Music, crowds, portaloos Of course this place is swarming with people in lycra and bin bags doing stretches. The bin bags are to keep warm: once you’ve handed your bag into the correct luggage lorry (having found it out of what seems like half a miles worth), you need something to put on that you can easily discard. Some wear bin bags, some charity themed bin bags, some old clothes. The old clothes are collected and given to charity after the start apparently.
There’s actually three different starts around the top of Greenwich Park and Blackheath, all from around the same area, with their courses joining within the first few miles. Red is the biggest, and is the haunt of those with charity ‘Gold Bond’ places. Blue is where most of those who got a place in the ballot run from (some of whom may be running for charity of course). It’s also the elite and wheelchair start. Green is apparently the smallest (though there’s still thousands start there). It’s the place for those with GFA (good for age: i.e. who got a place because they proved they could run fast for their age) places and various bits and bobs, like places for corporate sponsors and the police. It’s also the start for celebrities, which causes some aggro. Traditionally in the running world the fastest folks start at the front, with slow folks like me starting at the back, where we don’t get in their way, or get trampled! But of course, here the celebrities start at the front, in front of folks who’ve got a place by being fast. fine if the celebrities are fast, but every year there’s folks who blame missing a PB (personal best time) on some celebrity who was walking in front of them at the start
Personally I started from Red. Since I’d heard what it was like, I was in no panic. There were massive last-​minute queues at the loos. While others gave up and headed for the start I waited I even heard the starting hooter, meaning the race was officially underway, and still waited! By the time I got out the park was miraculously empty except for a few people in a panic running for the starting pens. I jogged over taking it easy.
At the start people are divided into pens, according to their predicted times. Since I was very slow I was at the back. With thousands and thousands of people to go through, I wouldn’t be starting for 15 – 20 minutes after the official start, and my position in the pen was quite some distance away. As I gradually moved forward I had time to make contact with a few people off a running site have a chat look at costumes The actual start at Red is out of the gate and a bit down the road. No worries about the delay though: you have a chip attached to your shoe which gives your actual time from start to finish. Your personal start is marked by loud electronic whistles as the chips cross the matt.
I guess the park must have seemed suddenly very empty to the spectators left behind.
As I couldn’t decide where on the 26.2 mile London Marathon Course I should put a marker, I decided it would be better to split it up so this is one of a series of reviews I’ve done on points along the course. For the full set search using the keyword ‘FLM’