Flora London Marathon course description

The Flora London Marathon course is relatively flat and fast, starting in Blackheath and ending at the Mall right in front of Buckingham Palace. The route takes in some of London’s finest sights and hasn’t been changed since its debut in 1981 – other than in 1994, when the finish line was moved from Westminster Bridge to The Mall, and in 2005, when part of the course was changed to avoid the dreaded cobbles next to the Tower of London.

The start of the Flora London Marathon is in Blackheath and Greenwich, and has three different start points for different runners: a blue start at Blackheath, Shooters Hill Road, which is for elite men and women, wheelchair athletes, and ballot runners; a red start at Greenwich Park, Charlton Way, which is for golden bond runners, overseas runners and guaranteed runners; and a green start at St John’s Park on the edge of Blackheath, which is for good for age runners and media runners.

But what is the route actually like? Although there is no substitute for actually being there, you can get a taster here of what you will need to confront on race day.

Download an Adobe PDF version of the marathon course.