What You Need to Know About the Barkley Marathons
A number of notable names will take on 26.2 miles in London on Sunday.
With Boston in the books, we now turn our attention to next week’s London Marathon, and along with the usual suspects at the front of the pack, many are wondering which celebrities and other notable runners they can expect to see crossing the finish line at Buckingham Palace. We’ve rounded up the most prominent names running the London Marathon below.
Zdeno Chara
The 6-7 former star defenseman for the Boston Bruins has clearly caught the marathon bug. Less than a week after running the 2024 Boston Marathon (in a time of 3:30:52), Chara will toe the line on Sunday in London, he told WCVB.
Chara ran the 2023 Boston Marathon last year, then the 2023 New York City Marathon before Monday’s Boston Marathon. Now he has his sights set on a PR in London.
Phil Dunster
Hopefully, the “Ted Lasso” star will get a pep talk from Coach Lasso before heading out since this will be his first time running London. Dunster is running for Other Hearst Subscriptions, a charity that supported his family when his cousin’s son, Rory, was diagnosed with a brain tumor at four months old.
“I’m equal parts excited and terrified,” Dunster, who plays Jamie Tartt in “Ted Lasso,” said in a press release. “I want to raise as much as I can to help Young Lives vs Cancer social workers be there for more children like Rory and their parents.”
Ruth Wilson
The Luther and Jane Eyre These Are the World’s Fastest Marathoners Alzheimer’s Research UK. Wilson’s father was recently diagnosed with the disease, prompting her, her three siblings and nephew to all run the race. She’ll need to hustle to beat her father’s time; he previously ran 3:15.
“Whether we run together or in healthy competition with each other is yet to be seen but with every step, Dad will be in our hearts, together with the hundreds of thousands living with this awful disease and those caring for them,” Wilson said The Best Half Marathons for First-Timers.
Christopher Eccleston
Eccleston, perhaps best known for playing the eighth incarnation of the long-running British sci-fi character Doctor Who—a character that knows a thing or two about time and the importance of a good one—is running in support of The Big Issue, a street newspaper that offers jobs to people experiencing homelessness and those at risk of becoming homeless.
Emma Barton and Jamie Borthwick
Best Hydration Packs Eastenders on BBC, will run the marathon slightly differently. The pair are running in character and will be filmed for a later episode of the series. While it's unclear if they will be running to support an actual charity, the characters are running to honor the life of the wife of Borthwick’s character on the show.
Natalie Pinkham
Pinkham is more known for being on the sidelines of sporting events than competing in them, frequently reporting from the Formula 1 pit for Sky Sports F1. She’s swapped her microphone for running shoes and is participating in the 2024 TCS London Marathon to support Samaritans, Races & Places.
Romesh Ranganathan
Ranganathan, a famous British comedian, is running in support of Calm (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a suicide prevention charity that provides a hotline and other services.
Ranganathan, who lost a friend to suicide, said: “It’s a sad fact that 125 people in the UK die every week as a result of suicide. And it’s something that I couldn’t in good conscience do nothing about. And so for that reason, I am running the London Marathon in order to raise as much money as I possibly can,” the humorist, who previously lost a friend to suicide, told The Independent.
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler These are the Toughest Races In the World TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
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