Pounds rain for runners at London Marathon on Sunday

 The London Marathon is set to take place this weekend on Sunday 2nd October, with around 50,000 people taking to the English capital to run one of the most popular routes in the world.

Following the introduction of the ‘virtual’ race during the Covid-19 pandemic, we could now see another 50,000 competing in the marathon from anywhere in the world.

The race will see a number of well-known celebrities take to the streets for charity with the likes of Harry Judd, Danny Mills and Stephen Warnock all taking part.

Meanwhile, there is also some of the world’s greatest marathon runners looking to claim the title this year - with Mo Farah unfortunately missing out due to injury.

Eliud Kipchoge will be looking to claim a victory and break his own record at the London Marathon, while the female’s first place spot is up for grabs after Brigid Kosgei was also forced to withdraw due to injury.

The Kenyan is the current world record holder and was the favourite to shatter Paula Radcliffe’s London Marathon record. 

While runners will have the main aim of smashing records or beating their own PB, they are also rewarded with prize money if they can finish well.

Do winners of the London Marathon get paid?

It hasn’t been confirmed exactly how much winners of this year’s London Marathon will earn, however we could see it be a slight increase on the known 2019 prize money.

The event three years ago saw both the elite men and women receive £39,000 for winning their respective race, while second place won £22,000, third place was awarded £16,000 and fourth place was worth £10,500.

Any participant in the men’s race who ran a sub-2:05:00 received a share of £70,000, while the same applied for any women who ran sub-2:18:00.

As well as this, a further £17,600 was awarded to anyone who won the race in a record time.

Wheelchair races to have biggest prize funds in history

The 2022 London Marathon will have the largest prize fund ever on offer to those competing in the wheelchair races.

The total prize structure has increased from £118,700 to £167,000 - with winners of the men’s and women’s races receiving £29,300 each.

There will also be increased prize money for the top 10 finishers, with second place earning £16,800 and third place receiving £12,600.

Meanwhile, the 10th-placed athlete will take home £1,050.

Why was the London Marathon 2021 prize money cut?

Last year’s London Marathon saw its prize fund cut by nearly half because of the financial hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of the 2021 race, London Marathons head of elite athletes, Spencer Barden, said: “It wasn’t an easy decision, but what we’ve done this year is reduce the price structure for the international runners by almost 50% from previous years. 

“However, we’ve also created a British-only place price structure this year – so the top three British athletes will have a prizes solely for them.”