There were veteran marathon records for Kenenisa Bekele, Krishna Stanton, Sue McDonald and Mary Slocum but problems for prospective sub-3hr runners on an eventful day in the British capital

Obviously the wins of Amos Kipruto and Yalemzerf Yehualaw took the honours at the 2022 TCS London Marathon on October 2 but there were some notable masters athletes results.

Kenenisa Bekele, many experts’ choice as the greatest all-round distance runner in history, is now 40 years old and he set a world M40 record of 2:05:53.

Krishna Stanton, the former Australian international running in London for Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, set a world W55 record of 2:48:06.

Racing as Krishna Wood in 1987 she finished fourth in the world indoor 3000m – five hundredths of a second ahead of 1993 winner Yvonne Murray and also ahead of 1989 winner Elly Van Hulst – before going on to win silver in the 2002 Commonwealth Games marathon.

In London she blasted the first 10km in 37:08 and despite slowing she was past halfway in 80:46, not far short of the actual world half-marathon record for that event.

The second half took seven minutes longer but she held on sufficiently to beat Jenny Hitchings’ 2:50:40 from New York in 2019, although she has run quicker than Stanton managed on a point to point course.

In second, Sue McDonald, who set a British W50 record last year, this time set a W55 record, despite not being at full health and fitness. She too went off quick with a halfway time of 85:47 and though slowing in the second half, she held together well with 21:07, 21:16 and 21:15 for her last three 5km splits.

Her chip time of 2:54:39 just about got the better of Angharad Mair’s 2:54:49 from 2017.

That was not the only British record though as W60 winner Mary Slocum also set an age group mark. Listed as running for Ireland in the results, she has dual nationality and intends to run for Northern Ireland in the Masters International this autumn.

Through halfway in 1:35:40, she only lost a few minutes on the second half and her time of 3:13:26 beat the previous mark of 3:14:37 by Lynda Hembury.

The biggest name in the women’s masters event though was the 1984 Olympic champion Joan Benoit Samuelson and she won the W65 event in 3:20:20, 38 years after she won in Los Angeles.

Another runner from that LA Olympics race, Yuko Gordon, who then ran for Hong Kong (34th in 2:46:12), was a lot closer here and she won the W70 race in 3:31:54 but Canadian Doreen Quapp with a two-minute negative split closed on the British age-group record-holder to just over half a minute by the finish.

Other British age-group winners among the women were W40 Helen Gaunt (2:39:10), W50 Jacqueline Rockliffe (2:54:08), W75 Sue Nicholls (4:34:31) and W80 Eileen Hieron.

British men found it harder as the non-elite race winners were M40 Gary Laybourne (2:21:07), M45 Stewart Haynes (2:24:57) and M80 Bevis Gillett (4:39:17) as the vast majority of men’s titles went overseas.

The Wanda World Age Group Championship was the reason for the quality of overseas competitors which was especially good in some of the mid-masters categories. The M60 for example just had two Britons in the top 13.

The third Briton in the age group was London Marathon ever-present Chris Finill. In his 42nd London Marathon, he ran a startling 3:01:18 as he just missed out on setting a world record for the longest span of sub- three-hour marathon (43 years plus) and becoming the first Briton to run a sub-three marathon in six different decades.

He does have an excellent chance of setting that record in April though he can already lay claim to be being the most consistent three-hour runner in history having set 33 successive sub-three-hour London Marathons from 1981 to 2013 even if a sub-three has eluded him since 2019.

His near miss that time did allow myself to temporarily retain the European and British three-hour span best of 40 years which I won’t be extending.

It was my 41st London Marathon, having missed the 1983 event which a well-known course measurer has insisted was slightly short but naturally the many thousands of athletes who set PBs that day which they never went on to better, insist it was fine and there is no Strava data to prove otherwise!

This year I ran just over four hours which, after Achilles problems, was done on minimal training with eight miles being the furthest I had run since the 2021 race.

For the first London Marathon I averaged 100 miles a week in the build up but here I ran less than a total of 100 miles in the three months leading up to the marathon. It’s not a schedule I would recommend but at least it meant only one very painful long run (the race itself) instead of the 10 or so uncomfortable long runs I normally do!

The only reason I did run was purely to keep my run going of completing my 47th year of marathoning – having run at least one marathon since 1976, after finding an alternative marathon to run in 1983. Not confident of finishing with so little training and so many niggles, I actually ran in cycling gear so I could carry stuff and not get stuck trying to get home in running gear.

Despite that I enjoyed it and it mostly reminded me that in most respects the current London Marathon is undoubtedly the world’s best though it does help that one of the starts is 400m from my door.

Every year there seem to be more modern technologies coming in. I was mightily impressed with the photos this year. I sent a selfie and seconds later I got 100 photos back and most were of me though I got a few others of different old men wearing glasses.

Yes, Berlin may be a little faster but London has the best prize money, the best elite field in depth, fantastic crowds, a stunning course in the world’s greatest city and fantastic infra-structure and it provides the best race for a elite runner, the British Championships competitors and the fun and charity runner.

However, maybe arguably not a British international runner which were in short supply in 2022 after the withdrawals of Mo Farah, Chris Thompson, Eilish McColgan and Charlotte Purdue. The gaps behind the best elites does mean many of the leading Brits often have a lonely run.

Rose Harvey, the top British runner was the only women’s finisher between 2:21:42 and 2:37:56 (note, the masses started 40min behind the elite women) though she was paced for some of the race. The men was busier but only 10 men finished between 2:09:52 and 2:20:33 compared to 40 at Berlin.

I was marvelling at the efficiency of the organisation as I queued for the toilets (so many, on first look it appeared we had one each) and the speed I got into the pen and across the start and in the early miles I enjoyed the efficiency of the water stations and even the many people to warn of upcoming speed bumps.

The only time I did notice something was not quite right was around five miles when suddenly huge groups of fast club runners started overtaking the three-and-a-half-hour pace runners I was with and there were many collisions and I got baulked a number of times. I seem to recall one of the three-hour pacers passed me around halfway. I actually paced sub-three myself for many years at London back and remember thinking it was so simple back then when there were no waves and everything was done by gun time.

It later transpired that there had been a major error on the red start and a lot of angry good club runners.

One of them, Graham Merfield, said: “On Red start wave one, the runners were all sub-three hours and many like me were also in the age-group world championship. We watched in horror as waves from the yellow start went off in front of us with many in fancy dress and we only left about 18 minutes after the elite runners started. Normally, I would have been right behind them.

“It made for a very frustrating and dangerous race for both fast and slower runners,” he added. “I was passing slower runners who had clearly started ahead of me right to the finish. In the early miles and after the starts came together, the runners were so dense that it was difficult to overtake without sometimes bumping runners or we had to run on the curb and off the course. I rolled my ankle on a bottle in the middle of the course adding to the frustration and although I finished, I also have a very swollen ankle.”

While there initially huge negativity about the lack of respect given to good UK club runners, London have now acknowledged that it was an unfortunate error that won’t be repeated.

Race director Hugh Brasher said: “Our sincere apologies to the club runners who were placed in the wrong start wave on the Red Start which meant they started behind slower runners. This was due to human error in the seeding process. We have reviewed what happened and we’re putting in place a process which means this should never happen again.”

Elite Men:
1 Amos Kipruto KEN 2:04:39
2 Leul Gebrselassie ETH 2:05:12
3 Bashir Abdi BEL 2:05:19
4 Kinde Atanaw ETH 2:05:27
5 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 2:05:53
6 Berhanu Legesse ETH 2:06:11
7 Sisay Lemma ETH 2:07:26
8 Brett Robinson AUS 2:09:52
9 Weynay Ghebresilasie 2:11:57
10 Phil Sesemann 2:12:10
11 Kohei Futaoka JPN 2:14:18
12 Ross Braden 2:14:32
13 Naoki Okamoto JPN 2:15:05
14 Matthew Leach 2:17:28
15 Nick Bowker 2:17:35
16 Alexander Lawrence 2:17:58
17 Andrew McCann USA 2:21:39
18 Naoki Aiba JPN 2:22:45
19 Jia Erenjia CHN 2:25:17
20 Yoann Kowal FRA 2:27:59
21 William Strangeway 2:34:11

Open:
1 Tom Frith 2:18:35
2 Sean Hogan 2:18:51
3 Joe Morwood 2:20:33
4 Kenny Wilson 2:20:40
5 Gary Laybourne 2:21:07
6 Charlie Sandison 2:21:16
7 Dominic Jones 2:21:32
8 Patrick Roddy 2:22:29
9 Alex Gladley CAN 2:22:59
10 Lewis Gamble-Thompson 2:23:13
11 Joe Morrow 2:23:22
12 Daniel Bagley 2:23:48
13 Russell Bentley 2:23:51
14 Stephen Blake 2:23:56
15 Neil Kevern 2:24:45
16 Rob McTaggart 2:24:48
17 Stuart Haynes 2:24:57
18 Paul Molyneux 2:25:01
19 James Hoad 2:25:02
20 Mehdi Frere FRA 2:25:05
21 Tom Aldred 2:25:11
22 Michael Waddington 2:25:25
23 Tom Van Ongeval BEL 2:25:38
24 Ollie Garrod 2:25:38
25 Joshua Teece 2:25:45
26 Kevin Pool USA 2:25:57
27 Harry Lane 2:26:05
28 Simon Crawford 2:26:14
29 Oscar Holmström FIN 2:26:26
30 Daniel de los Reyes ESP 2:26:48
31 Lucas Baez ARG 2:26:50
32 Gareth King 2:27:10
33 Badre Din Zioini FRA 2:27:15
34 Mark Innocenti 2:27:19
35 Chris Mason 2:27:23
36 Michael Fox IRL 2:27:28
37 Ben Heron 2:27:31
38 Andrea Barcelli ITA 2:27:39
39 Blaine Penny CAN 2:27:40
40 Edward Diamond 2:27:50
41 Toyoki Sato JPN 2:27:51
42 George Suthon 2:28:01

43 Aaron Odentz 2:28:03
44 Mark McKelvie 2:28:06
45 Mohammed Elbayan 2:28:11
46 David Smale 2:28:11
47 Rob Scott 2:28:15
48 David Hudson 2:28:17
49 Tristan Windley 2:28:25
50 John Gordon 2:28:32
51 Luca Quarta ITA 2:28:32
52 Recio Alvarez DOM 2:28:34
53 Neil McClements 2:28:37
54 David Lawrence 2:28:38
55 Jacob Landers 2:28:40
56 Wat King Long HKG 2:28:48
57 Andy Greenleaf 2:28:48
58 Ian Harding 2:28:56
59 Andrew Barnes 2:29:03
60 Nicolas Besson FRA 2:29:06
61 Marcin Soszka POL 2:29:09
62 Joe Hartley 2:29:14
63 Alan Darby 2:29:20
64 Luke Goldsworthy 2:29:25
65 Tomos Roberts 2:29:33
66 Chris Bruchhausen 2:29:34
67 Nigel Hockin 2:29:42
68 Jasper McDowell 2:29:43
69 Christopher Fawcett 2:29:47
70 Aran Davidson 2:29:50

READ MORE: Catch up with the rest of our London coverage

71 Lewis Rodgers 2:29:51
72 Jordan Skelly 2:29:52
73 Tom Fairbrother 2:29:53
74 James Hurrell 2:29:54
75 Adam Hodgson 2:29:55
76 James Macdonald 2:29:56
77 Matthew Snow 2:30:00
78 Peter Coates 2:30:02
79 James Condlyffe 2:30:09
80 Will Green 2:30:26
81 Andrea Fraquelli 2:30:27
82 Simeon Bates 2:30:27
83 Ben Duncan 2:30:27
84 Andrew Ferguson AUS 2:30:29
85 Christoph Hillebrand GER 2:30:37
86 Anis Chefirat FRA 2:30:47
87 Joseph Houlton 2:30:48
88 Ian Bailey 2:30:53
89 James Horman 2:30:54
90 Will Pannell 2:31:07
91 Jack Kidd 2:31:31
92 Harrison Read 2:31:32
93 Lee Baynton 2:31:38
94 Ryan Russell CAN 2:31:40
95 David McKinnon 2:31:40
96 William Talleri ITA 2:31:45
97 Luc Schout NED 2:31:49
98 Paddy O’Donnell IRL 2:31:53
99 John Deighan NOR 2:31:54
100 Wayne Loveridge 2:31:54
101 Lewis Clarke 2:32:04
102 Jack Chitty 2:32:07
103 Kyle Brooks 2:32:08
104 Damien Bruneau 2:32:09
105 Michael Alwin 2:32:17
106 Richard Lilley 2:32:28
107 Michael Sandiford 2:32:28
108 Jonathan Horan 2:32:30
109 Peter Lighting 2:32:35
110 Scott Yule 2:32:45
111 Andrew Siggers 2:32:48
112 Jonas Müller GER 2:32:55
113 Adam Smyth IRL 2:32:55
114 Timothy Bowen IRL 2:32:56
115 Benjamin Howe 2:32:56
116 Carl Jones 2:33:01
117 Espen Udjus Frorud NOR 2:33:03
118 Jonathan Walton 2:33:05
119 Dale Seddon 2:33:06
120 Andrew McCarron 2:33:07

121 Hugo Fry 2:33:12
122 Allan Christie 2:33:15
123 Jonathan Poole 2:33:16
124 Jack Chennell 2:33:17
125 Samuel Kelly 2:33:20
126 Martin Müller GER 2:33:23
127 Thierry Ini ITA 2:33:25
128 James Dwyer USA 2:33:25
129 Nick Tulp 2:33:31
130 Ben Leaman 2:33:36
131 Chris Jordan 2:33:38
132 Wail Aidem FRA 2:33:46
133 Roman Banias UKR 2:33:46
134 Rhys Doherty 2:33:51
135 Jamie Corbett 2:33:57
136 Nicholas Browne NZL 2:33:57
137 Ross Matthews 2:34:05
138 Jonathan Hilling 2:34:06
139 Oliver Rose 2:34:10
140 Ben Clarke 2:34:11
141 Phil Melling 2:34:12
142 Sion Lewis 2:34:20
143 Tony Connelly 2:34:21
144 Kevin Francis 2:34:23
145 John Gilfedder 2:34:27
146 Michael Christoforou 2:34:29
147 David Millns 2:34:32
148 Andrew Lawrence 2:34:35
149 Luc Burnip 2:34:36
150 David Jarrett 2:34:39

Elite women
1 Yalemzerf Yehualaw ETH 2:17:26
2 Joyciline Jepkosgei KEN 2:18:07
3 Alemu Megertu ETH 2:18:32
4 Judith Korir KEN 2:18:43
5 Joan Chelimo ROU 2:19:27
6 Ashete Bekere ETH 2:19:30
7 Mary Ngugi KEN 2:20:22
8 Sutume Asefa ETH 2:20:44
9 Ai Hosoda JPN 2:21:42
10 Rose Harvey 2:27:59
11 Marci Gage USA 2:37:56
12 Steph Twell 2:39:16

Mass women:
1 Hannah Alderson 2:35:56
2 Anya Culling 2:36:21
3 Dani Nimmock 2:38:18
4 Helen Gaunt 2:39:10
5 Johanna O’Regan 2:40:20
6 Chiara Mainetti ARG 2:40:23
7 Mai Fujisawa JPN 2:41:40
8 Emma Houchell 2:42:57
9 Natasha Bliss USA 2:43:28
10 Belinda Houghton 2:44:03
11 Margarita Quintero Petris MEX 2:44:27
12 Anna Boniface 2:44:34
13 Hannah Lucas 2:45:19
14 Alaw Beynon-Thomas 2:45:36
15 Amy Harris 2:46:10
16 Alice McGushin AUS 2:46:24
17 Rachel Owen 2:46:48
18 Sarah Short AUS 2:47:06
19 Verena Vogt GER 2:47:06
20 Catalina Langlois CHI 2:47:26
21 Sarah Hunter 2:47:35
22 Charlie Hanson 2:47:35
23 Abbey Van Dijk 2:47:35
24 Vicky Wright 2:47:36
25 Abby Halcarz 2:47:58
26 Becky Penty 2:48:00
27 Jessie Lutwyche 2:48:04
28 Krishna Stanton AUS 2:48:06 (World W55 record)
29 Sioned Howells 2:48:09
30 Nicola Macdonald 2:48:27
31 Danica Slavka Kusanovic Maldonado CHI 2:48:41
32 Sophie Delderfield 2:48:47
33 Carly Larios USA 2:48:48
34 Leah Fitzgerald AUS 2:48:52
35 Katie King 2:49:10
36 Rosie Wild 2:49:16
37 Astrid Roberts AUS 2:49:24
38 Olivia Desborough 2:49:41
39 Della Hatfield 2:49:59
40 Jessica Saunders 2:50:01
41 Annie Birch 2:50:15
42 Emily Marchant 2:50:16
43 Camilla McKnespiey 2:51:01
44 Katya Olivares Alvarez MEX 2:51:21
45 Josie Rawes 2:51:22
46 Elizabeth Dimond 2:51:23
47 Charlotte Ragan 2:51:27
48 Josie Hinton 2:51:46
49 Juliet Vine 2:51:55
50 Becky Wright 2:52:23
51 Gillian McCrory IRL 2:52:26
52 Troi Baxter 2:52:32
53 Kelly Nel RSA 2:52:33
54 Claudia Burrough 2:53:26
55 Ania Maria Gabb 2:53:29
56 Eliza Hawthorn 2:53:50
57 Meaghan Murray USA 2:53:57
58 Hilde Losgård Landheim NOR 2:54:00
59 Hannah Pullen 2:54:01
60 Jacqueline Rockliffe 2:54:08
61 Jessica Welborn 2:54:35
62 Susan McDonald 2:54:39 (UK W55 rec)

Mass (Note, Kenenisa Bekele ran 2:05:53 on elite start)
M40:
1 G Laybourne GBR 2:21:07; 2 R Bentley GBR 2:23:51; 3 P Molyneux GBR 2:25:01; 4 T Aldred GBR 2:25:11; 5 G King GBR 2:27:10; 6 M Innocenti GBR) 2:27:19; 7 T Sato JPN 2:27:51; 8 D Hudson GBR 2:28:17; 9 L Quarta ITA 2:28:32; 10 R Alvarez DOM 2:28:34; 11 A Greenleaf GBR 2:28:48; 12 I Harding GBR 2:28:56; 13 N Besson FRA 2:29:06; 14 J Macdonald GBR 2:29:56

M45:
1 S Haynes GBR 2:24:57; 2 B Zioini FRA 2:27:15; 3 B Penny CAN 2:27:40; 4 W Green GBR 2:30:26; 5 C Anis FRA 2:30:47; 6 W Talleri ITA 2:31:45; 7 D Bruneau GBR 2:32:09; 8 C Jones GBR 2:33:01

M50:
1 T Van Ongeval BEL 2:25:38; 2 J Walton GBR 2:33:05; 3 M Vaughan GBR 2:36:03; 4 R Jongh NED 2:36:29; 5 D Williams GBR 2:36:47; 6 R Trulla ITA 2:39:53

M55:
1 G Maiorano ITA 2:36:44; 2 T Tayeri USA 2:39:49; 3 T Meigs USA 2:45:34; 4 C Lentz USA 2:46:13; 5 S Hoey IRL 2:47:06 6 Y El Sayed LIB 2:48:03; 7 R Ashton GBR 2:48:54; 8 C Dyce GBR 2:49:04; 9 P Holley GBR 2:49:35; 10 J Ratcliffe GBR 2:49:50

M60:
1 B Murphy CAN 2:44:16; 2 N Kelly GBR 2:49:03; 3 J Guillen USA 2:49:15; 4 I James GBR 2:52:45; 5 A Gaytan USA 2:52:47; 6 S Schmidt USA 2:52:52; 7 H Notaro USA 2:54:46; 8 J Oliveira Martins POR 2:55:09; 14 C Finill GBR 3:01:18

M65:
1 D Walters USA 2:56:45; 2 P Hughes GBR 2:57:43; 3 H Souza BRA 3:00:41; 4 B Martin GBR 3:09:47; 5 S Gil POL 3:13:54; 6 T Coyle GBR 3:14:09; 7 D Butler GBR) 3:14:21; 8 W Crowe CAN 3:16:08; 9 A Madge GBR 3:18:14

M70:
1 G Dykes USA 3:19:50; 2 D Alcock (GBR) 3:23:14; 3 J Camilleri CAN 3:24:43; 4 J Woodnutt GBR 3:35:46; 5 Y Kawase JPN 3:39:52; 6 J Holterman NED 3:40:32; 7 M Hammond GBR) 3:43:26; 8 G Moss GBR 3:43:27

M75:
1 V Petrovic CAN 3:48:53; 2 P Rossiter GBR 3:52:36; 3 R Butler GBR 3:56:01; 4 J Fanshawe GBR 4:00:59; 5 P McDonald GBR 4:08:55; 6 D Winch GBR 4:12:22

M80:
1 B Gillett GBR 4:39:17; 2 J Kane GBR 4:42:03; 3 G Miller CAN 4:56:26; 4 A Bent GBR 5:14:53; 5 H Newton GBR 5:24:38

W40:
1 H Gaunt GBR 2:39:10; 2 N Bliss USA) 2:43:28; 3 V Vogt GER) 2:47:06; 4 C Langlois CHI 2:47:26; 5 K Olivares MEX 2:51:21; 6 G McCrory GBR 2:52:26; 7 J Watkinson GBR 2:55:21; 8 S Smith USA 2:56:19; 9 T Millmore GBR 2:56:21; 10 K Ward GBR 2:57:33

W45:
1 M Fujisawa JPN 2:41:40; 2 V Wright GBR 2:47:36; 3 A Roberts AUS 2:49:24; 4 S Flaherty GBR 2:57:07; 5 S Lemberger USA 2:57:31; 6 G Pearson GBR 2:59:33

W50:
1 J Rockliffe GBR 2:54:08; 2 K Harris GBR 2:57:30; 3C Hoskins GBR 2:57:34; 4 K Streams GBR 2:57:36; 5 F Carter GBR 3:00:52; 6 J Pettersen CAN 3:04:20; 9 S Birkin GBR 3:06:22

W55:
1 K Stanton AUS 2:48:06; 2 S McDonald GBR 2:54:39; 3 S Mix USA 2:57:11; 4 A Riddell-Webster GBR 2:58:19; 5 K Neesam GBR 3:01:37; 6 J Warner GBR 3:03:26

W60:
1 M Slocum IRL/GBR 3:13:26; 2 E Waywell CAN 3:15:51; 3 S George USA 3:18:35; 4 E Chalat USA 3:19:50; 5 A Norris GBR 3:20:03; 6 S Reiley USA 3:24:02; 9 H Geldert GBR 3:25:49; 11 C Ferguson GBR 3:28:16

W65:
1 J Benoit-Samuelson USA 3:20:20; 2 J Bremner GBR 3:28:12; 3 C Sexton USA 3:30:07; 4 L Cohen USA 3:35:38; 5 A Newman USA 3:43:56; 11 M Batchelor GBR 3:59:34; 12 J Phillips GBR 3:59:53

W70:
1 Y Gordon GBR 3:31:54; 2 D Quapp CAN 3:32:39; 3 C Stevens GBR 3:45:52; 4 R Smith CAN 3:50:31; 5 J Tombs GBR 4:14:44

W75:
1 S Nicholls GBR 4:34:31; 2 G Little GBR 4:54:02; 3 M Crosswell GBR 5:05:31; 4 V Brown GBR 5:27:03 5 P Bingham 5:43:43

W80:
1 E Hieron GBR 5:48:04; 2 R Richter GER 6:59:08; 3 P Seabrook GBR 7:01:49

READ MORE: Catch up with the rest of our London coverage

Wheelchair:
Men:
1 M Hug SUI 1:24:38
2 D Romanchuk USA 1:24:40
3 D Weir GBR 1:30:41
4 T Suzuki JPN 1:30:41
5 J Plat NED 1:30:44
6 A Pike USA 1:33:05
7 S Watanabe JPN 1:34:16
8 J Lappin AUS 1:34:16
9 P Monahan IRL 1:34:16
10 J Smith GBR 1:34:17

Women:
1 C Debrunner SUI 1:38:24
2 S Scaroni USA 1:42:21
3 E Rainbow-Cooper GBR 1:47:27
4 M Menje GER 1:47:28
5 J Fesemyer USA 1:47:28
6 W Tsuchida JPN 1:47:28
7 V De Souza BRA 1:47:29
8 Y Hoang USA 1:47:29
9 A Rocha BRA 1:47:32
10 C Dawes AUS 1:47:33

Further results to be published when processed by Power of 10 including Mini London Marathon results.