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London Marathon in numbers - as 40,000 runners face the hottest race ever

Sir Mo Farah does the ‘Mobot’ ahead of the London Marathon 2018 (PA)
Sir Mo Farah does the ‘Mobot’ ahead of the London Marathon 2018 (PA)

The 38th annual London Marathon is expected to be the hottest ever recorded.

Extra safety measures have been added, including more ice, water and run-through shower stations on the 26.2-mile course.

Race officials have advised runners to adjust their goal time and rethink possible fancy dress costumes due to the weather.

Around 40,000 runners will be pounding the pavement as temperatures threaten to reach sweltering highs of 23C.

A record 386,050 people applied for this year’s race – almost a third more than last year and the highest number for any marathon in the world.

Races start from 8.55am.

A firefighter who fought the Grenfell Tower blaze trains ahead of the London Marathon (PA)
A firefighter who fought the Grenfell Tower blaze trains ahead of the London Marathon (PA)

Here are some facts and figures about this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon:

  • 7 – Victories by Great Britain’s David Weir in the men’s wheelchair marathon, the most ever

  • 7.6 – Degrees Celsius of the coolest marathon ever, in 1994

  • 10 – Victories by Kenyan female runners, making it the most successful country in the women’s elite race

  • 11 – Men to have run every London Marathon

  • 13 – Victories by Kenyan male runners, making it the most successful country in the men’s elite race

  • 23 – Degrees Celsius of Sunday’s predicted highest temperature, which would make 2018 the hottest-ever race

  • 39 – First aid stations dotted along the course

  • 45 – Percentage of applicants who were female, a record

  • 83 – Age of oldest woman running 2018 event

  • 87 – Age of oldest man running 2018 event

  • 90 – Age of oldest female finisher ever

  • 93 – Age of oldest male finisher ever

  • 98 – Number of people attempting Guinness World Records

  • 196 – Countries where the race will be broadcast

  • £39,273 – Prize money for winners of the men’s and women’s elite races

  • 39,487 – Most finishers, in 2017

  • 650,000 – Recyclable plastic bottles provided

  • 750,000 – Expected spectators lining capital’s streets

  • £2.3 million – Highest amount ever raised by a single runner, in 2011

  • £890 million – Amount raised by runners for charity since the first London marathon in 1981