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2013 London Marathon Preview

On this page: Overview | Men’s Race | Women’s Race | Full Starter List / Performances at London

photo credit: Victah Sailer World Record Holder, Patrick Makau Can he Add London to His List of Wins?

The London Marathon has, inarguably, the largest budget in the world and the largest budget for elite athletes. The prize money for top placements amounts to just over $300,000 – but add on top of that generous time bonuses and many, many undisclosed private bonus deals and appearance money with individual athletes and the number of millions of dollars spent on athletes is staggering.

Because of its commitment to paying athletes; because of its flat/fast course; because of its use of pacers to ensure the race starts at a fast pace; and because of its insistence and use of time bonuses for much of its prize money – the London Marathon ALWAYS has the deepest field in marathoning and provides great results and drams for its race. And the 2013 race will be no exception – and may be best field and race ever imagined.

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The Men’s Race
The 2013 London Marathon announced that eight of the top ten from its 2012 race would return, as well as the three medal winners from the 2012 Olympics, the top two finishers from the 2012 Chicago Marathon, the top three from the record-setting 2011 New York City Marathon and the world’s fastest marathoner…

In total, three men in the field had run the marathon distance in less than 2:04, another four had run a marathon in under 2:05 and another four had run the marathon in sub-2:06.

How could a race field be better than that?

In some years we handicap the race and/or try to discuss who could be the possible winners. For 2013, we just can’t do that… We can state that we expect a Kenyan or an Ethiopian runner to win – but that is also stating the obvious. All we can say is that we encourage all to review the starter list at the bottom of this page and to simply be amazed at the depth and strength of the 2013 London Marathon field.

The Women’s Race
In the history of the marathon, only 17 women have run sub-2:20 and of those, only seven are currently running. The London Marathon has recruited four of those fastest women in the world to run the 2013 London Marathon; four women who have run sub-2:20. One of the other fast women who is missing is Mary Keitany, the defending champion.

The London Marathon is famous for bringing back its field and the 2013 London field holds seven of the top women from the 2012 (in addition to missing the defending champion, the sixth and seventh finishers are absent). In addition, the women’s field contains the Gold and Silver medalists from the 2012 Olympics and the Gold and Silver medalists from the 2011 World Championships. There really isn’t much more that we can say about these fields other than: peruse the list below and be astounded at the accomplishments of the women who will be running London.

Elite Lineup:

Men’s Field

Name	Country	Bib	Personal Best	London History
Wilson Kipsang (31)	KEN	1	2:03:42, Frankfurt, 2011	History
Patrick Makau (28)	KEN	2	2:03:38, Berlin, 2011	History
Geoffrey Mutai (32)	KEN	3	2:03:02, Boston, 2011	History
Ayele Abshero (23)	ETH	4	2:04:23, Dubai, 2012	History
Tsegaye Kebede (26)	ETH	5	2:04:38, Chicago, 2012	History
Emmanuel Mutai (29)	KEN	6	2:04:40, London, 2011	History
Feyisa Lilesa (22)	ETH	7	2:04:52, Chicago, 2012	History
Abel Kirui (32)	KEN	8	2:05:04, Rotterdam, 2009	History
Stanley Biwott (27)	KEN	9	2:05:12, Paris, 2012	History
Martin Lel (35)	KEN	10	2:05:15, London, 2008	History
Deressa Chimsa (37)	ETH	11	2:05:42, Dubai, 2012	History
Stephen Kiprotich (24)	UGD	12	2:07:20, Enschede, 2011	History
Yared Asmeron (34)	ERI	13	2:07:27, Chuncheon, 2011	History
Adil Annani (33)	MOR	14	2:07:43, London, 2012	History
Marcin Chabowski (27)	POL	15	2:10:07, Dusseldorf, 2012	History
Tomas Abyu (35)	GBR	17	2:13:06, Dublin, 2008	History
Scott Overall (30)	GBR	18	2:22:37, London Olympics, 2012	History
Hafid Chani (27)	MAR	19	2:11:11, Seoul, 2012	History
Patrick Rizzo (30)	USA	20	2:13:42, 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon, 2012	History
Derek Hawkins (24)	GBR	21	2:14:08, Frankfurt, 2012	History
Ayad Lamdassem (32)	ESP	22	2:14:39, Otsu, 2012	History
Phil Wicks (29)	GBR	23	2:15:38, Amsterdam, 2011	History
Anuradha Cooray (35)	SRI	24	2:17:50, London, 2012	History
Philip Anthony (32)	GBR	25	2:16:40, London, 2012	History
Yared Hagos (32)	ETH	26	2:19:32, Brighton, 2012	History
Rue Silva (36)	POR	28	Debut	History
Mo Farah (30)	GBR	29	Debut/Guest Runner	History
Mathew Bond (31)	GBR	N/A	Debut	History
Marilson Gomes dos Santos (36)	BRA	N/A	2:06:34, London, 2011	History
Bunta Kuroki (28)	JPN	N/A	2:10:08, Fukuoka, 2012	History

Women’s Field

Name	Country	Bib	Personal Best	London History
Tiki Gelana (26)	ETH	102	2:18:58, Rotterdam, 2012	History
Yoko Shibui (34)	JPN	103	2:19:41, Berlin, 2004	History
Florence Kiplagat (26)	KEN	105	2:19:44, Berlin, 2011	History
Edna Kiplagat (34)	KEN	106	2:19:50, London, 2012	History
Priscah Jeptoo (29)	KEN	107	2:20:14, London, 2012	History
Meselech Melkamu (28)	ETH	108	2:21:01, Frankfurt, 2012	History
Atsede Baysa (26)	ETH	109	2:22:03, Chicago, 2012	History
Yukiko Akaba (34)	JPN	110	2:24:09, London, 2011	History
Remi Nakazato (25)	JPN	111	2:24:28, Nagoya, 2012	History
Jessica Augusto (32)	POR	112	2:24:33, London, 2011	History
Alevtina Biktimirova (31)	RUS	113	2:25:12, Frankfurt, 2005	History
Mai Ito (29)	JPN	114	2:25:26, Nagoya, 2012	History
Chika Horie (32)	JPN	115	2:26:11, Sapporo, 2002	History
Olga Dubovskaya (30)	BLR	118	2:39:12, London Olympics, 2012	History
Freya Ross Murray (30)	GBR	119	2:28:10, London, 2012	History
Adriana Da Silva (32)	BRA	120	2:29:17, Tokyo, 2012	History
Irvette van Zyl (26)	RSA	121	2:33:41, London, 2012	History
Amy Whitehead (35)	GBR	123	2:33:44, London, 2012	History
Joyce Chepkirui (25)	KEN	124	Debut	History
Helen Clitheroe (39)	GBR	125	Debut	History
Tirunesh Dibaba (28)	ETH	N/A	Debut	History
Lucy Kabuu (29)	KEN	N/A	2:19:34, Dubai, 2012	History
Nadia Ejjafini (36)	ITA	N/A	2:26:15, Frankfurt, 2011	History
Renee Baillie (32)	USA	N/A	2:27:17, Chicago, 2012	History
Susan Partridge (33)	GBR	N/A	2:34:13, London, 2011	History