The London Marathon

This past Sunday was exciting because the world descended on London to compete in the London Marathon. Strictly speaking, the competition was a 26.2 mile run on Sunday, although I am tempted to think, from the anecdotal evidence I have gathered over the past few years, that the real competition is making it to the start line. As many as 125,000 people originally applied to run in this year’s race. something like 1 in 4 applicants manages to get a place on the open ballot, and those who don't get a place then scramble for a 'golden bond', or a place with one of the myriad of charities which have reserved places in the Marathon and allocate them in return for a pledge to raise a certain amount of funds for the charity in question.

This year, according to the Marathon website, by 6.45pm 35,674 runners had crossed the finish in the Mall.

Nearly 37,000 people had registered on Saturday (which leads me to think that perhaps not all of the runners finished the race...).

This Marathon was especially exciting because the Niblocks of Bangor descended on London. Barry (pictured, right) arrived on Saturday with a supporting cast of thousands (well, at least seven). On Sunday, we followed Barry around the Marathon route, cheering him on at the 6, 17 and 23 mile marks. We were in position to cheer him on at the finish, but as it happens we had been standing there for quite some time before Barry himself informed us that he had finished some time previously.

The atmosphere of this event is incredible! People throng the sidelines the whole way along the 26-mile course, supporting complete strangers. I found the whole event so inspirational that I have decided to try to get a place to run next year's marathon. So if I come knocking on your door, asking you to support a cat shelter, have your wallets to the ready.