In This Month: March

First London Marathon
London hosted its first ever marathon on the 29th March, 1981. Over 6,000 runners took to the streets on a drizzly, cold Sunday to compete in the 26-mile race, which was won by Dick Beardsley of the USA and Inge Simonsen of Norway who crossed the line together to finish with a time of 2:11.48 hours.

The marathon, which is now one of the world's biggest sporting events and the largest annual fund-raising event, was launched by former Olympic champion Chris Brasher. Brasher wrote in The Observer in 1979: "To believe this story you must believe that the human race be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, achieving the impossible." In all, a total of 676,743 people have completed the race since its inception with a record 35,674 crossing the line in 2007.

Find out more about Olympic sports in The First Olympians.