While a few big names originally announced have dropped out, this year’s TCS London Marathon has one of the greatest fields ever assembled in both the men’s and women’s race. As in recent years, though, I won’t see much of it as I will be struggling around the course hours after the elite races have been decided.
The times when I finished close enough to the leaders to be able to get back for the press conferences have long passed! This will be my 44th London and the 50th year in a row that I have done a marathon and I believe I might be the first Briton to achieve this.
My first was in Harlow in 1976 – a few months after leaving school – and includes every London Marathon bar 1983 where I inexplicably ran a different low-key race that day (and won) but I did other marathons later that year.
Between 1976 and 2017 I was capable of breaking three hours and back then I was the first runner in the world to have a 41-year span of sub-three-hour performances.
Sadly this year a knee injury has prevented almost any training and it will be a bigger and longer struggle than any of my previous 79 marathons. I have run 60 sub-3s and for many years was a sub-three-hour pacer at London.
Steve Smythe pacing a sub-3 in the 1999 London Marathon
Even if my knee improves, this could be my last. For many years I was quick enough to get a championships place then more recently a good for age place, but this year it was a media place.
Going back to my first – things have changed a lot since I debuted on the streets of Harlow three years after Ian Thompson set a world’s fastest debut on the same course in the Commonwealth trials with 2:12:40. I comfortably broke three hours that day despite plentiful walks in the last 10km due to insufficient background of training. Yet despite my time, I was not in the top half of the field of just over 200 runners.
Back in 1976 everyone who did a marathon was a club runner. Few people ran to keep fit and there were very few master runners and even fewer female runners. Remember, back in 1976 the longest women’s Olympic running event was the 1500 metres!
Most marathoners back then wore shoes similar to the Tiger Marathon and were basically very light plimsolls rather than the ridiculously stacked bouncy carbon shoes that most will wear this year.
There were no gels, Garmins or heart rate monitors either.
Ian Thompson and Steve Smythe
It wasn’t until 1981 when London started up when there was a mass British race to train for and marathons become more fashionable and achievable and eventually it became something that a fit sportsman could achieve and a marathon became more of a goal target for ordinary runners.
A total of 840,000 applied for a marathon place for this year’s race. In comparison, there were 20,000 applicants in 1981 of which 7000 started.
It is because there was an “elitist club runner” feel to marathons when I started with few incentives for masters to continue that I believe I may be unique in British terms to having nearly 50 years of marathoning. Runners retired earlier and there were definitely no 67-year-olds running marathons back in 1976.
I have also been lucky with injuries in my marathon build ups over the years, sticking mostly to grass and parkland that kept the joints in good condition until too many road runs in Lanzarote in December took their toll.
I am for now the seventh most experienced runner in London terms as there are just six “ever-presents” remaining. Chris Finill, Mike Peace, Bill O’Connor, Jeff Aston, Malcolm Speake and David Walker have run every London since 1981 although 2020 was a virtual race due to Covid.
None of the ever-presents started marathons as early as myself but none were foolish enough to miss the 1983 event like I did.
Finill, who is easily the youngest, stands out as the fastest. The 66-year-old, who is a former English 100km champion, has a 2:28:27 marathon PB.
I did actually finish ahead of Finill in the first three marathons we met between 1979 and 1982 and then he finished ahead in the next 22! I then had a good spell finishing in front in the next six between 2005 and 2010 but Finill has finished well ahead in all marathons since apart from 2018 when he broke his arm when falling!
He is still running well and last year won the British masters steeplechase title.
As one of Britain’s most experienced marathoners myself, I have been asked for any lessons I have learnt about running 26.2 miles over the past near half century. So here goes…
1 Save energy in the final week. You will not gain fitness, just tiredness. So do a small amount of running to remind yourself about marathon pace but stay off your feet whenever it is practical.
2 It’s irrelevant how good you feel at 13 miles. What usually decides how good a marathon you will have is how you feel at 22 miles, so save energy early on so you feel strong in the latter stages.
3 Pacing is important. Try and stick to your race plan as long as you feel you can maintain it. If you suddenly feel you are going to run much faster than your training suggests, have a rethink!
4 Don’t let the occasion get to you. There is a big difference between running slowly by yourself around local streets or parks and taking part in the world’s best marathon surrounded by fellow competitors and watched by thousands of spectators. Don’t suddenly think you might be transformed into a better runner than the training suggested. Play safe as there will almost certainly be another marathon to test yourself. Improve gradually.
5 Drink regularly but small amounts to top up the thirst and hydration levels and adjust depending on the temperature but remember drinking too much is more dangerous than drinking too little.
6 Practice drinking the energy drink in training but note your tastebuds do change in a marathon due to the dehydrating effect and drinks can taste differently or more sweeter or sugary.
7 Use gels if you have tried them in training. When I first started using them at the turn of the century I noted a definite improvement in the last 10km of marathons if I had mixed it with good training and good pacing.
8 Don’t fully rely on your smart watch. Because of the high buildings and tunnels you will not get fully accurate mile or kilometre readings. Many runners get readings more towards 26.5 miles rather than 26.2 and so it is a good idea to have a list of required splits and compare them when you go through the markers on the course.
9 Set a realistic target. Your time should be based on either your previous marathons or your recent longer training runs or recent half-marathons. On the latter, allow for plenty of slowing. For example, a 1:30 half-marathon suggests a 3:15 to 3:30 marathon and not a 3:00! Setting your target too high will likely lead to disappointment and going too fast on the first half and suffering on the second.
10 Post-race drink plentifully (not just alcohol!) and try and refuel as soon as possible with food. A long soak in a bath should help recovery and try and get plenty of sleep post race as you can be susceptible to viruses after such a hard effort. A short walk will probably be a better aid to recovery than running in the days after and a swim or bike ride also might be easier.
Steve Smythe
1976-2025?
I fully expect this marathon to be my worst ever given the fact that I have averaged less than 10km a week in 2025. Most of the runs have been a weekly cross-country race or parkrun rather than training runs as road running has not been possible.
The longest race was the English National Cross Country Champs at Parliament Hill in February where my soles fell off at the start which involved going off course changing my shoes and restarting with not a single runner in sight and initially being a distant last, although I did catch a few eventually I was the only runner to get lapped twice by the leaders!
I don’t anticipate getting lapped or having a sole problem in London, but one thing certain with an ongoing knee problem is it will be one of my slowest ever marathons.
Breaking down my best time into five-year age groups shows an early peak then holding form fairly well into my 50s before a rapid decline as health, injuries, a lack of training and age and weight took their toll!
U20 (1976-77) 2:41:35 (Barnsley 1977)U25 (1978-82) 2:29:42 (London 1981)U30 (1983-87) 2:35:02 (London 1985)U35 (1988-92) 2:38:15 (London 1988)M35 (1993-98) 2:44:21 (London 1994)M40 (1998-2003) 2:42:10 (Austin 2003)M45 (2003-08) 2:43:53 (London 2006)M50 (2008-13) 2:43:40 (London 2008)M55 (2013-18) 2:56:16 (Seville 2017)M60 (2018-23) 3:09:25 (Brighton 2019)M65 (2023-24) 3:37:11 (London 2023)
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