The Weird and Wacky World of the London Marathon Costumes

Every April, thousands of people descend on London with one common goal – to run 26 miles and 385 yards.

The London Marathon is one of the top five competitions that make up World Marathon Majors. It has been running since 1981, following a course that has deviated very little over the years – a largely flat course that runs around the River Thames that finishes at The Mall.

With a £1 million prize, the event attracts a lot of professional athletes, particularly those who specialise in long distance running. As well as competing for first place, there is also the beckon of smashing the record for completing the race in the fastest time. The current record stands at 2:04:40, set by Emmanuel Mutai in 2011.

However, of the 30,000+ participants that turn up to run the course, the majority of them are amateur runners; some come to complete the individual challenge, many to have fun in groups, and almost all of them are there to raise money in some form (78% of competitors in 2007 raised money). The marathon is a huge fundraiser, with its raising over £450 million for charity since its beginning in 1981 and holding the Guinness World Record for largest annual event. It often directly supports and raises awareness of specific charities too, with Oxfam being the official race charity in 2011.

But what really makes the London Marathon, drawing in the hundreds of thousands of people that turn up every year to watch, is the costumes. Annually, without fail, there will be a whole array of unique and…interesting costume.

And looking at some of the costumes that people don, it’s as if they don’t consider running 26 miles around London in warm Spring warm a hard enough challenge – they have to throw on thick heavy costumes as well!