Map of the Course
History of the Race
1981-96 Races
Records & Statistics

A Rite of Spring
Now in its seventeenth year, the London Marathon has established itself as the world leader in big city marathons and its reputation grows every year. Around 27,000 runners from all over the world are expected on the streets of London on Sunday 13 April, to take part in the The 1997 Flora London Marathon. Runners will include the world's elite competing to be race champions and thousands of individuals who will be running as a personal challenge and for charity.

Flora London Marathon includes a number of races within the main race. These are: the elite men's and women's races; the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA of E) Championships; the British Athletic Federation (BAF) Championships; the Flora/British Sports Association for the Disabled (BSAD) Wheelchair Race; the Flora London Marathon Football Challenge, and of course, the mass race.

The first race starts at 9.00 am with the elite women and is followed at 9.25 am by the Wheelchair Race. The elite men and mass race start at 9.30 am. At the front of the race are the world's top marathon athletes competing to win the much coveted title of champion. They are closely followed by club runners seeking British and English Championship titles and for the chance to represent Britain in the marathon at the 1997 World Championships in Athens. The British Athletic Federation will be using the 1997 Flora London Marathon to assist in its marathon team selection. The first British man and woman to finish, who has not already been selected, will automatically qualify for the team.

The remainder of the runners are of mixed abilities, many running to fulfill a lifelong ambition whilst at the same time raising money for charity. A survey of runners in the 1996 Flora London Marathon showed that in the one year alone people running for charity, many dressed in weird and wonderful costumes, raised the staggering sum of over £10 million for hundreds of UK-based charities.

For the 1997 Flora London Marathon the course remains unchanged. All runners will set off from Blackheath and Greenwich. The course takes the runners by the Woolwich Artillery Barracks and on past the famous Cutty Sark in Greenwich. Just after 8 miles the runners will enter the Surrey Quays area for the first time as they make their way to Tower Bridge. Having crossed Tower Bridge the runners make their way towards the Isle of Dogs, passing Canary Wharf, one of Europe's tallest buildings towering 800ft above the City. From here the runners pass through the rest of the Isle of Dogs, making their way back along Narrow Street to St Katherine's Dock (alongside Tower Bridge) and then pass in front of The Tower of London. The course follows the River Thames to Parliament Square, into Birdcage Walk, and finishes in The Mall with Buckingham Palace as a spectacular backdrop.

Each year the course is lined with large crowds of cheering onlookers who play a key part in keeping the runners on the move. For those unable to be there in person, the 1997 Flora London Marathon will be broadcast to millions of people all over the world by BBC TV, the event's official TV station, and into thousands of homes in Britain on BBC Radio 5 Live (909/693 MW), the event's official national radio station.

Race Facts 1996 Flora London Marathon
The 1996 Flora London Marathon lived up to all its promises. A record 26,761 runners completed the distance on a beautiful spring day. Liz McColgan won the women's race and Mexico's Dionicio Ceron made it a hat trick of wins with a third successive victory. New sponsors Flora invested £6 million in the first year of sponsorship to take the event to new levels of awareness.