For most participants the London Marathon started and finished on Sunday April 26th. Major Phil Packer started with everybody else on April 26th, but didn't finish the 26.2 mile course until Saturday May 9th, 13 days later.

The London marathon is a yearly opportunity for runners to raise money for one cause or another. This year, the fundraisers are joined by an unusual group of runners trying to raise money for a life and death project: a well in their drought-ravaged village in Tanzania.

I will win or I will die. That was the famous cry of Dorando Pietri, the Italian whose heroic efforts to cross the line 100 years ago sealed for the first time the magical marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards.

Britain’s David Weir again demonstrated the value of his sprint finish with a hat-trick of victories in the Flora London Elite Wheelchair Marathon. For the whole distance there was a group of seven talented athletes and it was not until the last four hundred and fifty metres that they separated.

Runners in London Marathon may be tempted to down several litres of water to keep their cool and achieve their best time, but large fluid intake does not achieve either, according to a sports scientist from the University of Exeter.