London Marathon: Long distance information

Since the first London Marathon in 1981, the total number of runners who have completed the course is 323,613.

500 stretchers are on hand to carry away any casualties from among the runners or spectators.

The fastest time in the men's race was set by Britain's Steve Jones in 1985, who finished the 26 miles in 2hr 8min 16sec. Fellow Briton, David Holding, won last year's wheelchair race in 1:43:48.

The St John Ambulance will have 1,500 volunteers on standby, plus 10 resuscitation teams equipped with the latest defibrillators.

The men's world marathon record is 2:06:50, which was set by the Ethiopian Belayneh Densimo in Rotterdam in 1988.

First aid materials include 88lbs of petroleum jelly and 5,000 cotton wool balls.

The number of entrants accepted to run tomorrow is 39,250.

Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen set the women's world record of 2:21:06 in the 1985 race.

In 1983, there were 19 starters for the first wheelchair marathon, last year the figure was 45.

It takes 100 litres (about 25 gallons) of blue paint to mark the course, which has 23 water stations at one mile intervals after the first three miles.