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London Marathon 2020 will only feature elite runners and 45,000 other runners will be unable to take part for the coronavirus pandemic. The contest between Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya is going to happen in a bio-secure closed space.
There are 30-40 athletes who are reduced from the fields will participate in wheelchair titles and elite women’s trophy on October 4. The next year’s competition will happen on October 3 rather unliked April 2021, as planned earlier. The traditional date of the race has been shifted to maximize the chances of all runners to participate in the 2021 race.
The authorities are to introduce efficient technology to track an athlete’s physical closeness to ensure that most athletes patriciate the race without fear. Thus, they can concentrate on their run and not worry about their health.
London Marathon 2020 different form other years
Hugh Brasher, the director of the event said that it was impossible to make any plans to manage spectators. The challenges were tough for tackling emergency services all around London due to this cancelation of trials of the spectators at several sporting programs.
There are only a few elite athletes who will have a spectator free course. The course will follow a different path than the usual route which was used for the London marathon.
The laps of that route will have 1.5 miles distance and it will cover the spur road, Horse guards parade, the Mall, and Birdcage walk. The spur road is beside Buckingham Palace.
There will be a showdown between Bikele and Kipchoge who won four titles earlier. Bekele’s best taking was is 2 seconds slower than Kipchoge. His world record was of 2 hours 1 minute 39 seconds. Great David Weir is aiming for the record for his ninth win in the wheelchair race in British Paralympic.
Brigid Kosgei of Kenya will compete with Manuela Schar. Brigid Kosgei won against Paula Radcliffe in October. Paula used to have a winning streak world record. Manuela Schar also holds world record following her win in women wheelchair title in 2019.
The timings for athletes in this race will decide for qualification for the delayed Olympic games in Tokyo in 2021. The Tokyo marathon happened in March but most other spectators were restrained in numbers. There were only a few elite runners who participated. Several other events were canceled.
New York and Berlin races will not commence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those races were supposed to happen on September 27 and November 1 respectively.
Challenge to manage 24 hours of a socially-distant marathon
The runners who got no place in the elite field but have ranked in the race 2020 will be still able to complete the race virtually from any location around the world.
The authorities have invited the athletes to run or walk for 26.2 miles. There will be intervals if needed. They have to complete it by 24 hours on October 4. They have to record their progress on an app which is specially made for this event.
The London Marathon donated €66.4 million for charities and good causes last year. Brasher said that they believe that the London Marathon would be the marathon of a terrific kind. It aimed to accumulate the spirit of all the athlete from all around the world. Moreover, the runners are going to donate funds to improve economically devastated situations due to the pandemic.
