Results tagged “London marathon”

It's been another exciting sporting year and plenty of big names have appeared in the pages of The Wharf, including West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola, a quartet of England cricket captains and two heroes of the 1966 World Cup win.

We look back at what's been making the headlines locally and nationally over the last 12 months.

City Pride staff are cautiously preparing for next year's London Marathon festivities.

Marathon day is traditionally the Westferry Road pub's busiest day of the year. But many believed April's event would be its last before it was closed to make way for Glenkerrin's 62-storey Pride development.

By Andrew Williams

I always think of this weekend as the traditional start of the summer. It's normally a reasonably hot day and you can stand in smug satisfaction while an exhausted, sweaty multitude hobbles past you along Commercial Road.

Arms fair opponents will try to reach runners registering for the London Marathon at Excel this weekend.

As reported by The Wharf earlier this month, East London Against The Arms Fair will stage a musical protest on Saturday against September's DSEi event in Docklands.

THE SLOWEST man ever to complete the London marathon is set to crush last year's record.

Creeping competitor Greg Billingham inched into Canary Wharf on Friday, five days after the rest of the field charged through the estate.

The self-styled "Mr Slow Motion" completed last year's 26.2 mile event in 88 hours, and he reckons he will clear the 100-hour mark this year due to the amount of special visits he has been asked to make along the route.

THE LONG wait is nearly over for thousands of runners in the Flora London Marathon, but even if you aren’t one of them you can still play an active part.

This Sunday (April 13) some 36,000 runners will take to the streets for the race, with thousands more lining the route to watch.

The Isle of Dogs and Docklands hosts about six miles of the race and volunteers are urgently needed to help marshal the route and give out information to spectators. Marshals are provided by local charity the Dockland Settlements.

Transport for London (TfL) has announced details of road closures and alterations to public transport on the day of the race.

Bus services on the Isle of Dogs and in south-east London will be subject to diversions and suspensions, some of which will take effect from 6.30am.

Affected routes include the D3, D7, D8, 100, 277, ELC and ELW. Passengers are advised to find alternative routes. Roads on the Isle of Dogs will close from 8am, reopening by 7pm.

PAULA RADCLIFFE’S withdrawal from this year’s Flora London Marathon has disappointed many British fans but the race still features a world-class field.

The women’s world record holder withdrew with a toe injury last month, leaving the race on April 13 wide open. The new favourite is Ethiopian Gete Wami, although the likes of her team-mate Berhane Adere, Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita and Kenya’s Selina Kosgei will all push her hard.

British interest will focus on Liz Yelling, Radcliffe’s former training partner, who continued her preparation with a 14th place finish in the world cross country championship in Edinburgh last Sunday (March 30).

THE FLORA London Marathon hits the streets of east London in just over a week, with Greenwich, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs all key parts of the route.

Around 36,000 brave souls take part in the event on Sunday, April 13, and there will be the usual raft of road closures and travel restrictions in place.

In Docklands, the following roads are all closed to traffic from 8am on April 13: Westferry Road, East Ferry Road, Marsh Wall, North Colonnade, Poplar High Street, Commercial Road, The Highway. All these roads should be reopened by 7pm.

HE’S 101, smokes and drinks – and he’s running the London Marathon.

Buster Martin was in Canary Wharf last Thursday (March 6) as he prepared for the big race on April 13, which heads through Docklands.

The Wharf caught up with him at The City Pride pub in Westferry Road, where the ex-soldier was refuelling with his favourite tipple, a pint of bitter.