Race Report: Mars London Marathon ??/04/84

(Belated) race report – Mars London Marathon (1984)

As dawn was breaking on a clear, dry. Late-March morning in 1984, I set out from my sister’s flat in Tooting for Blackheath Common ready for my first London Marathon.


I joined a couple of other runners at the bus-stop but the bus was late, so we were apprehended by the Metropolitan Police, who bundled us into their car and gave us a lift to the start line.

After changing, we waited for what seemed like an age to be called to our starting pens, another age for the starting gun to sound, and yet another before we actually moved forward.  Finally, along with about half of the 20,000 runners (the rest started at Greenwich) we inched forward, then trotted, and finally jogged steadily down the road to stream out of the park gates towards South London, and The Cutty Sark.

After Greenwich, the field thinned out a little, and I got into a steady pace. I was happy to find I was overtaking more runners than were passing me.  By the halfway mark (on Tower Bridge) I passed Jimmy Savile, with his gold shell-suit and a small army of ‘minders’.

He hasn't changed a bit.

We than turned right through London’s Docklands area, and round the Isle of Dogs, with its run-down housing and acres of derelict warehouses (no Canary Wharf for another 7 years).  However, the crowds in the East End were fantastic and I was even offered a pint by one enthusiastic bystander at a pub.

At about 20 miles, I passed Peter Duncan (of Blue Peter) in his green-and-white suit, then braced myself for the notorious cobbles in front of the Tower of London.  I narrowly escaped being interviewed by the BBC (I find averting your eyes at the key moment usually does the trick, and avoids your 15 minutes of unwanted fame) and concentrated on pacing myself and not hitting ‘the wall’.

Still feeling fresh at around the 25 mile mark, and running up The Mall, past Buckingham Palace (we still had a mile to run on the old course) I gritted my teeth for a fast finish, as I was on target for a massive PB.

The Bling.

I pushed hard down Birdcage Walk, through Westminster and even managed a sprint across Westminster Bridge to the finish line by County Hall (from which Ken Livingstone and the GLC were soon to be evicted by Thatcher).

The finishers were greeted by cheering crowds (an unbelievable feeling to know they’re cheering you), and two delightful young ladies bearing medals and boxes of Mars Bars, courtesy of the race sponsors.

Result:- Charlie Spedding won in 2:09:57, Ingrid Kristiansen won the ladies race in 2:24:26, and I was gob-smacked to get a PB in a time of 3:19:45.

Infinite thanks to ‘Red Ken’ and the GLC for helping to organise such a wonderful event.  Ah … those were the days, they don’t make marathons like they used to.

For more information visit the website.

Grant