Marathon viewing

As I mentioned a few weeks ago on the afternoon of the Boat Race, I’m not a big sporting fan. It’s the unusual, one-off events that grab my attention rather than the competitions with big build-ups and knock-out stages.

And so the video will be set tomorrow morning to preserve the five and a half hour epic that is the televised London Marathon. Pictures of wheelchairs going across the cobbles near Cutty Sark (even over a mat over the cobbles) inspire year after year.

The determination shown in professional athletes faces as they grit their teeth and keep fighting towards the finish line. The bravery if someone runs into the lead and has to circumnavigate the course with only a motorbike camera crew for company.

And the army of thousands of normal (?) people who are running for the satisfaction of finishing the 26 mile course, and many of whom will raise a lot of money for causes they care deeply about.

Maybe not the greatest show on earth, but certainly a show of human determination and a view of some of London’s most picturesque buildings and roads.

And it’ll not be too long before the Belfast Marathon on May Day—Monday 7th May.