Sir Mo Farah smashes British record at hottest ever London Marathon

Sir Mo Farah smashed a British record as he secured a top three finish at the hottest ever London Marathon.

In what was his first race over this distance since shifting his concentration from the track to road events, the four-time Olympic champion managed to finish in two hours, six minutes and 21 seconds.

It meant Sir Mo comfortably beat the two hours, seven minutes and 13 seconds achieved by Steve Jones back in 1985.

His performance was all the more impressive considering the conditions, with the 23.2C (73.8F) recorded by the Met Office at St James’ Park making it the hottest London Marathon on record – beating the 22.7C (72.9F) recorded in 1996.

Sir Mo held was driven on towards the end by some of the 800,000 spectators who lined the 26.2 mile course, cheering him on as he reached the finish line.

He said afterwards he would be spending time with his family after not seeing his children due to a strict training regime in Ethiopia during the last three months.

He added: “Today it was the hardest way to run in any race. But at the end of the day you’ve got to fight like a man.”

Sir Mo was not the only Briton with reason to celebrate, as David Weir won his eighth London Marathon men’s wheelchair title.

“At the beginning I felt a little bit nervous to be honest, it was a little bit hot and that’s why I lifted my visor up to get some air and to cool down a bit,” he said.

“But I’m really happy this year.”

Elsewhere, Vivian Cheruiyot, from Kenya, won the women’s elite race and Australian Madison de Rozario won the women’s wheelchair title.

It was her first victory in London, finishing ahead of four-time champion Tatyana McFadden.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who won gold at the 2016 Olympics, triumphed in the men’s elite race with a remarkable time of two hours, four minutes and 16 seconds.

“I ran a beautiful race,” he said.

The sweltering conditions had forced organisers to advise runners to rethink their fancy dress plans and drop their target finish times, with more ice, water and run-through shower stations positioned along the route.

Among the 40,000 runners taking part for charity were firefighters who tackled the Grenfell Tower blaze, who raised more than £41,000 for children affected by the inferno, and a police officer who was stabbed during the London Bridge terror attack.

Members of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust also took part on what was the 25th anniversary of the teenager’s murder.

They set off from Blackheath at 10am after the Queen started the 38th annual event from Windsor Castle by pressing the traditional red button.

Prince Harry, who is patron of the London Marathon Charitable Trust, was in the capital to cheer people on.

One who failed to finish was glamour model and businesswoman Katie Price, who was running to raise funds for a lung charity because of a disease suffered by the mother and who had vowed to complete the race even if she had to crawl over the line.

After dropping out of the race between 10km and 15km, she posted a video insisting said she did train, despite reports she had not done so, and didn’t mind not finishing as “if my mummy is proud that’s what matters to me”.

Organisers hope another record to tumble will be how much the event raises for charity, with it having registered a new high for an annual one-day fundraising event last year with £61.5m.

The annual race has raised £890m in total since 1981 and continues to grow in popularity, with 386,050 people applying to take part this year – almost a third more than in 2017 and the highest number for any marathon in the world.

(c) Sky News 2018: Sir Mo Farah smashes British record at hottest ever London Marathon