London Marathon

The London Marathon is a road marathon that has been held each year in London since 1981, usually in April. In addition to being one of the top five international marathons run over the traditional distance of 42.195 km (26 miles and 385 yards), it is also a large, celebratory sporting festival.

According to the race organisers, it is now the largest annual fund raising event in the world with the 2006 participants raising over £41.5million for charity, bringing the total amount raised for charity by runners, to a grand total of £315 million.. In 2007, 78% of all runners raised money. The annual amount is some five times more than the New York City Marathon.

It is one of the World Marathon Majors, a two-year series of elite marathon racing that also includes the Boston, Chicago, New York and Berlin marathons.