Last weekend held one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world: The London Marathon. With a stacked elite field and temperatures reaching record levels, it was sure to be an exciting race! Said elite field included, for the men:  Eliud Kipchoge (returning champion and infamous runner of the 2:00:25 marathon in Nike's "Breaking 2" project), Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia (Berlin Champion 2016 and fastest in the field excluding Kipchoge's "Breaking 2" attempt) and our very own Mo Farah, attempting the distance for his second time ever and hoping to score a medal. For the women, three time London Marathon winner Mary Keitany of Kenya (hoping to break Paula Radcliffe's long standing record), multiple Olympic and World Champion over 5000m and 10000m Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia and Rose Chelimo of Bahrain who won the 2017 World Championships in London. They were joined by 40,000 plus regular runners taking on the challenging 26.2mile course. 
As expected, Kipchoge was ustoppable as he stormed to victory in 2:04:17. Second place was more of a surprise: the young Ethiopian Tola Shura Kitata - finishing not too far behind in 2:04:49. After a bit of drama at a hydration station, Mo Farah was still able to hold onto the bronze medal in a British record performance of 2:06:21.
In a dramatic women's race, none of the favourites mentioned ended up contending! After a very considerable lead at the half way point, Mary Keitany fell back in pace considerable. Fellow Kenyan and Rio 2016 5000m gold medalist, Vivian Cheruiyot was able to take advantage of this and run for the win in 2:18:21, nearly a full two minutes ahead of the rest of the field! Chelimo and Dibaba struggled - Dibaba so much so that she had to drop out! This left the podium positions up for grabs, eventually going to Brigid Kosgei of Kenya and Tadelech Bekele of Ethiopia. The first British woman home was Lily Partridge in her debut marathon, running 2:29:24 for 8th place.
Overall, the London Marathon 2018 was full of excitement. Thousands of people braved the heat in costumes, raising money for their various charities.
 Unfortunately, there was also the tragedy of Master Chef finalist Matt Campbell who collapsed 22.5 miles into the race and died later in hospital. His death was a huge shock to the running community and a wake up call for many to ensure that they are prioritising their health during training and racing. Thousands of people are participating in a 3.7 mile run to finish for Matt and it has already raised over £100k.
Aside from the tragedy, this year's marathon was another success and it is sure to continue getting more popular over the coming years.