- guardian.co.uk, Sunday April 14 2002 00.59 BST
- The Observer, Sunday April 14 2002
But no pain, no gain, as the Lycra-clad boys and girls like to say. And though the pain is at times overwhelming (let's not dwell on bruised toes, blistered heals and raw nipples), the gains are great. There is no other race in which the athlete who comes 300th is as thrilled as the runner who comes 3,000th or even 30,000th. It's all about personal triumph and achieving the impossible. Competitors run together, rather than against each other - a formula which was established in the very first London Marathon, in 1981, when the joint winners of the men's race crossed the line holding hands. It's this mass camaraderie that gives the event its unique atmosphere. And there aren't many races in which skipping fairies, juggling waiters and trundling rhinoceroses pit themselves, shoulder-to-shoulder, against the world's greatest athletes. This year boasts an incomparable line-up. Paula Radcliffe will be doing her bit in the women's race, and the men's race sees the debut of Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian wizard.
The route, which follows the Thames, takes in all the sights, from the Cutty Sark to Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the Millennium Eye. It's lined with bands, cheerleaders and screaming supporters - and it also passes 49 pubs. It's all enough to make you give up your Sunday morning lie-in...
· The race starts in Blackheath at 9am today. Spectators can watch all along the route.
