London Marathon: show goes on despite Boston atrocity
Down on the Mall the first few security fences were going up ahead of Sunday’s London Marathon – the world’s largest. Up and down the road that sports Buckingham Palace at one end and the finish line of this famous endurance event, pound the people that make it iconic. Ordinary folk training to raise money for charity, beat a personal best, or indeed just finish the darn thing.
The world’s elite athletes have begun to descend too. They are all putting on a brave face. Everything is normal. Except it isn’t. No one here can forget about Boston.
Mo Farah – running only half the distance as part of preparations to one day contest the entire 26 miles – has returned from his new home in Oregon. He was in jovial mood at the official press conference this afternoon, but beneath his famous smiles lay sombre words.
“You don’t wanna see anything like that in sport,” he said. “Its sad – my support goes to everyone that got hurt. But this weekend I’m here to do my job.”
Given the events in Boston earlier this week – concerns about security in London are inevitable. Not just for the hundreds of thousands of spectators – but also the athletes – at elite and amateur level.
The London Marathon has grown and grown since its inception in 1981.
Few know it was well as Steve Smyth – a south east London boy who went to school a short sprint from the famous starting line in Greenwich Park. He’s run it every single year bar one.
He knows the course like the back of his hand – and also has a fondness for Boston having run there twice. He worries fellow Londoners may have second thoughts this year.
He told me how several friends were running this year, but had decided not to allow their kids to come and cheer.
For Boston just cannot be ignored. That said – and remembering there is absolutely nothing that suggests London is a target – few runners will pull out, having trained and toiled as one must to survive the gruelling 26 miles and 385 yards.
Professional and club runners alike will just try and put fear out of their minds. As they’ve had to before.
Iwan Thomas was waiting for his 400m relay final during the Atlanta Olympics when a bomb, planted by an anti abortion activist – killed two and injured hundreds.
He explained today that when it came to his race, he “wasn’t nervous because of the bomb”, he was “nervous because he was nervous – it was an Olympic final!”
Today the Home Secretary Teresa May announced there would be more police – but there are, for the record, still no known threats. The London Marathon attracts the best athletes in the world – and the tourists: they will still come. I spoke to a Ugandan, a Spaniard, and two Israelis down at the finish line today, and they all said they were determined not to be put off. If they could they would come down and cheer on the 35,000 runners contesting Sunday’s race.
And for Mo Farah, there’s a very simple explanation. Back just for the weekend before jetting off to train for his next challenge – he said “London is my home. I’m determined to feel comfortable.”
Follow @nzerem_c4 on Twitter.