London Marathon 2024: Cool costumes and celebrity runners
- Published
The world famous London Marathon race took place on on Sunday 21 April, with more than 50,000 runners taking part.
Some people competing decide to wear fun costumes during the run, to help them to raise money for charities.
Even some celebs joined in the fun. Comedian Rosie Jones took part with her friend Ivo Graham, and Masked Singer UK presenter Joel Dommett ran in this year's winning costume from the show - Piranha.
The London Marathon race is 26.2 miles long, and starts at Greenwich Park and ends at Buckingham Palace.
The first ever London Marathon took place on 29 March 1981, and since then more than a million people have completed the course, raising more than a billion pounds for charity.
As well as the main race that the general public compete in, there are also elite races, which feature professional athletes who can run long distances in very fast times. This year, Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir won the women's elite race, breaking a world record with her incredible finishing time of two hours 16 minutes and 16 seconds.
In the men's elite race Kenyan runner Alexander Mutiso Munyao claimed victory, with a time of 2:04:01.
It was double success for Switzerland in the elite wheelchair races, as Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner won their races. Marcel won the event for the fourth year in a row, with a time of 1:28:35, and Catherine clocked a winning time of 1:38:54. This year is also the first time that the prize money for winning the wheelchair event is the same as for non-disabled athletes.
19-year-old Lloyd made history as the youngest person in his learning disability category to complete a marathon. Lloyd has Down's Syndrome; he competed in the intellectual impairment category (LL2).
But, Peres Jepchirchir wasn't the only record-breaker at the London Marathon. The 2024 event saw 44 Guinness World Records broken, including this Jurassic racer - Lee Baynton - for the fastest marathon dressed in an inflatable costume (male).
Emma Whatley from the US broke another record for the fastest marathon dressed in a road vehicle, with her time of 4hr 38min. She wore a fire engine costume because she volunteers as a First Responder Canteen in the US - helping people get enough food and water after a fire - and hopes to become a volunteer firefighter in the future.
Georgie Box took home the title of fastest marathon in a full-body inflatable costume (female) with her time of 05:10:31. Fintastic!
There was even a proposal at this year's race, with runner Daniel Fairbrother proposing to his partner mid-race, with a fridge strapped to his back.
Runner Karl Fitzpatrick from Jersey completed the race in this shoe-per costume in a time of 4:08:03.