London Marathon 2020, 40th Race goes ahead, but not as we know it…
This article will take approximately 2 minutes to read
Published 28 Sep 2020 in Raising Awareness
At the end of February, our London Marathon team were set to embark on their final weeks of training ahead of the big day, then the COVID-19 pandemic came and as we know everything changed.
The 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon was initially postponed until October, but sadly this major event, like so many other things have been cancelled and will not go ahead in the traditional way.
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However, the good news is that not all their training will go to waste. Whilst COVID may have put a stop to the main event the 2020 Virtual Virgin Money London Marathon – The 40th Race - will be taking its place on Sunday 4 October. It will be a race of its time, an event for the world of now.
Participants from across the World, including some of our original team will have the chance to be creative, covering a marathon distance of 26.2 miles, creating a unique course wherever they are and doing it their way to earn the coveted finishers medal.
With the road to this year’s marathon being significantly impacted by lifestyle restrictions and workplace changes because of COVID it has meant that not all our original team will be taking part. Stephen Graham and Toby Moy have deferred their challenge to next year’s race, which is scheduled for October 2021, fingers crossed.
Let’s here from the runners who will be taking part in the Virtual London Marathon and how they are doing it their way.
Peter Lockey – Head of Communications
So, building your own marathon route was a challenge, I’ve decided to run a loop from my home to the centre of Oxford and back. The route follows the Oxford Canal, which was once a major connection between the Midlands, Oxford and London, around the open spaces of Christ Church Meadow and University Parks in the heart of Oxford city centre, passing by some of Oxfords most famous landmarks, but most importantly being as flat as possible and finishing at my local pub, where I hope to have a celebratory pint, or two. I took some pictures on my recent recce of the route which you can see below.
Doing it my way means sharing this experience with others, in a socially distant way of course. I will have running buddies sharing the challenge with me at various points, some doing a mile, some doing more, but each one will be contributing to getting me around the course as there is no doubt that it is going to hurt, a lot. I know that this year, perhaps more than any other, any amount of money raised will make a real difference to our partner the Outward Bound, as we all know the income from donations that they and other charities rely on has been significantly impacted this year.
Stuart Newman - Head of Pharmacy Retail
I am very much looking forward to completing my 8th marathon on 4th October, but it will obviously be like no other! The challenge of running the 26.2 mile/42km distance will be tougher than ever before given the lack of other runners, spectators and well-wishers that normally line the streets of London. Additionally, this year preparation has been extra tough given the lack of certainty compete lack of any other races to build up.
So, it will just be me and my iPod that attempts to run from Abingdon to Banbury running past many of our food stores including Kennington, Summertown, Kidlington and Deddington. Motivation will come from knowing the difference the money raised will make to the Outward Bound who like may charities will have endured a tough year also.
Helena Reilly, Retail Management Graduate – Food Retail
Before signing up for the 2020 London marathon the furthest I had ever run was 5k, so taking on this challenge was extremely daunting. However, leading up to the marathon I pushed myself to be as ready as I could be, but to my knowledge and I’m sure many others, the marathon was moved to October. This was very disheartening but due to the outbreak of Covid-19, very understandable. During lockdown, I continued running but had lost some motivation in pushing myself to the fitness level required to completing a marathon as a result of the lack of certainty that the race would be taking place.
When it was announced that the 2020 marathon would have to be a virtual marathon my first thought was to defer my place to the October 2021 marathon, which I did. However, seeing how lockdown has affected charities I decided last week to put forward a last-minute entry to the 2020 virtual marathon to do what I can to help out The Outward Bound Trust in these difficult times as much as I can. I’m not expecting in any way to run the whole 26.2 miles but I am happy to be taking part in a marathon that will definitely not be forgotten!
All for a good cause – Donations will go to The Outward Bound Charity
Lucy Sharma from the charity tells us how they have adapted over the last few months:
Given the challenges, we have had to innovate to support young people through this crisis we have devised an alternative programme for the start of the academic year. From this month, we will now run non-residential courses for schools local to our centres and also run a series of “urban” Outward Bound programmes in the playgrounds and playing fields of schools in areas all over the country. It will be very much along the lines of “if you can’t come to Outward Bound, Outward Bound will come to you”. With specifically designed impactful “OB-lite” interventions it will get young people active, working together and discovering adventures from their front-door. It’s very different from our usual activities, but these courses will ensure that young people are able to get outside, have fun and learn about themselves. We have worked closely with schools to design a flexible suite of options, so they can easily work a course into the coming autumn term. For further information, please do take a look at our webpage.
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Good luck to all our virtual runners!