40,000 in London marathon

SIR STEVE REDGRAVE broke the record yesterday for fundraising at the Flora London Marathon, with £1.3 million of pledges for finishing the course.

The five-times Olympic rowing champion, who had run only a handful of sessions this year, completed the 26 miles 385 yards in 5 hours, 29 minutes and 6 seconds, well behind his two former crewmates, Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.

However, Sir Steve, who was raising money for his trust, which benefits several charities, said: “This year was not about winning but all about the money. I am so pleased so many people will benefit.”

His fundraising total beat last year’s record of £1.25 million, set by Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Faithworks and Parent Talk, for which he was running.

Sir Steve insisted that this was his last marathon, despite many people recalling that after winning his fourth Olympic title in 1996 he said: “Anyone who sees me near a boat again has my permission to shoot me.”

He then went on to triumph for a fifth succesive time in Sydney in 2000, in a boat with Pinsent and Cracknell.

All three and the 34,145 other registered competitors ran in a steady drizzle, which cooled the conditions for those in fancy dress as a gorilla, a belisha beacon or bird.

Despite the rain there were huge crowds, with Cracknell saying: “If this is what happens in these conditions, think what it will be like when we stage the Olympics in 2012. I had tears in my eyes as I ran across Tower Bridge. I found it amazing that so many people would shout my name, that of a minor sportsman, competing in what is not his main event.

“The crowds got more and more passionate as you go down the course. People seemed genuinely to care what you do. It is different from an event that is just confined to elite competitors. Everyone in this race has their own goal.”

Cracknell was the first of the trio to finish, but failed by ten seconds to beat his target time of three hours, almost collapsing after crossing the line. He had been able to start running only in the middle of February after he had recovered from his feat of rowing across the Atlantic in 49 days. His hips began to suffer badly under the strain and he was given an ice pack at the finish.

Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef, ran his sixth London Marathon, recording 3 hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds, blaming his relatively slow time on his “manic work schedule”, saying: “I did my first 90 minutes run in Dubai.”

The wheelchair event was spoilt when Ernst van Dyk, the favourite from South Africa, crashed on a roundabout after three miles and brought down Denis Lemeunier, of France, the 2001 winner. David Weir, of Britain, blamed Van Dyk for going too fast at that part of the course, but he himself went on to win, setting a course record of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 48 seconds.