London Marathon 2026
This city is coming alive.
Can you feel it?
The pasta is on. The trainers are by the door. Everywhere across London right now, thousands of people are pinning on their numbers, checking the forecast for the hundredth time, trying to sleep and failing beautifully.
The city feels different this week. Charged with something. The electricity of anticipation that only marathon week brings.
Running right through the heart of it… Ranelagh.
From Greenwich to the Mall, through streets lined with noise, colour and love, 26.2 miles that means something different to every single person who takes them on:
Mike Peace, lacing up for his 46th time. An Ever Present. A living legend. Proof that showing up year after year never goes out of style.
Agnes Nagy, dreaming of a PB until the wheels come off.
Marc Leyshon, back with something to prove.
Matt Hirschler, building on last year's 2:45 and hungry for more.
Lucy Charkin, returning with unfinished business and a sub-3 burning in her chest.
Josh Charkin, finally here after 11 ballot attempts. The little boy who once handed out water on this course, now stepping onto it himself.
Joel Peirson-Hagger, running London as a Londoner for the last time, his parents just minutes from Blackheath Common, the city giving him the send-off he deserves.
Gareth Hopkins, on his home roads, chasing that elusive negative split.
Edel McKeever, with calm focus continuing to rediscover something she never should have left behind.
Graham Weller, still solving the puzzle, still asking the right questions.
Julian Holden, simply determined to look good at mile 9.2 and handle the rest from there.
Jarryd Hillhouse, lining up for his fiftieth marathon - because for some people, this just becomes who they are.
Natalie Sacre, new to the club but right at home on a start line.
Colette Doran, here for every moment - the crowds, the noise, the strangers who cheer like they've known you forever.
Tonight the roads close. The city holds its breath. And then…
it roars.
From Chris Brasher helping shape the very first edition of this race, to Mike Peace still lining up decades later (as reported by this article in the Times >) Ranelagh has always been part of the fabric of London Marathon day.
This Sunday, that story continues.
Ranelagh colours moving through the streets, carried by runners with their own reasons, their own journeys, their own quiet determination. Together they reflect everything the club stands for - endurance, joy, community, and the simple drive to keep going.
14 runners. 14 stories. 14 moments waiting to unfold.
To our runners… when you stand on that start line, know this:
You are not out there on your own.
You carry every mile you have trained, every early start, every tough session that got you here. You carry the voices of your clubmates, the cheers from the roadside, the messages lighting up your phone, and the noise of a city right behind you.
You carry Ranelagh with you.
And whatever your goal, whether it is a PB, a finish, a cause, or simply the experience of it all, standing on that start line means you have already done something special.