London<\/a> Marathon history,\u201d said Brasher. \u201cYou work for years and years and years and then sometimes the gods make it happen.<\/p>\n\u201cWe have a women\u2019s-only world record, two men under two hours, a record number of starters and a hopefully record number of finishers. And I\u2019m sure there will be a record number of people raising money for charity. It was last year, where we raised \u00a387m. So yes, it\u2019s the greatest day in marathon history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brasher, whose father Chris paced Sir Roger Bannister to his famous sub-four minute mile in 1954, said that Sawe\u2019s time of one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds deserved to be seen in the same light.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sub-four mile was in Britain,\u201d he said. \u201cSub two hours for the marathon was in Britain. These are historic feats. People said that Sir Roger Bannister\u2019s mile was the greatest sporting moment of the 20th century. Is this the greatest sporting moment of the 21st century? I don\u2019t know, but it was just brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brasher\u2019s message was echoed by the former women\u2019s record holder Paula Radcliffe, who said that the breaking of the two-hour barrier was an historic moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn absolutely phenomenal race. What can you say?\u201d she said. \u201cTo have waited how long and now two men have gone underneath two hours. It\u2019s like waiting for a bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will reverberate around the world. The goalposts literally just moved for marathon running and where you benchmark yourself as being world-class. It has been done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Afterwards Sawe revealed he had been fueled by a breakfast of two slices of bread and honey and a cup of tea. And he also paid tribute to the crowds who willed him home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to thank the crowds for cheering us,\u201d he said.\u201d They help a lot because if it was not for them you do not feel you are so loved. I think they help us a lot, I think you feel so happy and strong and pushing and that\u2019s why I can say \u2026 what comes today is not for me alone, but for all of us today in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were plenty of other magic moments during a day where London celebrated the best of the capital and the best of humanity. They included Georgios Petroulakis from Greece proposing to his future wife Ismini Sermea Marathaki just after they finished \u2013 having run 26.2 miles carrying an engagement ring.<\/p>\nBut there was less joy for Eilish McColgan despite being the leading British woman after coming seventh in 2:24.51\u2013 after her foot became drenched in blood owing to a blister.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot long after halfway, I had a really, really bad blister in my foot,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt sounds strange saying it, but the only way I can say it is I felt like my foot just exploded. I just had this massive tear and I thought, what the hell is that? It was obviously pretty sore, but for it to happen quite early on, it panicked me a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to go to see the doctor after the race, I just couldn\u2019t put any pressure through my foot. And it was just totally covered in blood.<\/p>\nA runner in a chicken costume was among many in fancy dress to line up for the London Marathon.<\/span> Photograph: Neil Hall\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPlenty of celebrities also ran the race, including the Olympian Laura Kenny, who finished in 3:45:05. While Daddy Pig, who was running in aid of the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society, finished in 5:51:53.<\/p>\n
Officials at the Guinness book of world records were also busy as 36 records were set across the day, including James Dowsett, who set the time for the fastest marathon dressed as a knight after running 4:21:10<\/p>\n
However, Gill Punt, who had hoped to set the fastest marathon in a polar bear suit, was unable to do so on the day. \u201cIt was a phenomenal atmosphere,\u201d said Gill, who has now raised more than \u00a32m for charity. \u201cThe screaming and support got me through, although I was questioning my choice of a furry costume.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London Marathon\u2019s organisers have hailed the \u201cgreatest day\u201d in the event\u2019s 45-year history after huge crowds watched Sabastian Sawe become the first man to shatter the two-hour barrier in an official race, and a world record tally of more than 60,000 runners started the event. By 6.30pm on Sunday evening, organisers were also hopeful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}