Eliud Kipchoge can light up the unique London Marathon

With a pair of garish moonboots on his feet, Eliud Kipchoge will take a bouncy step into the unknown when a London Marathon like no other commences in silence on Sunday.

There is a whiff of intrigue over the Kenyan’s attempt to set a world record across 19.6 laps of St James’s Park, but, with a forecast for rain, it is a reduced possibility.

If he does do it, and Kipchoge has avoided any such predictions, it will stand as a win of sorts for mankind in a sticky year; if he falls short of his own mark of two hours one minute and 39 seconds then a wider victory is that this race took place at all.

Eliud Kipchoge will take a bouncy step into the unknown at the London Marathon on Sunday

This postponed 40th anniversary will not take its usual place with 750,000 spectators on the streets of the capital and will occur almost six months later than planned behind blacked-out fences at St James’s Park. Only 600 or so people will have access, including 500 event staff and media, and 94 entrants in the elite men, women and wheelchair fields. 

While the women’s race could be one for the ages, and Kipchoge offers promise in the men’s even after Kenenisa Bekele withdrew on Friday with a calf problem, the flavour has been drained through the loss of the mass-participation race. It has survived in a virtual form, with 42,283 runners plotting courses of 26.2miles in 109 countries. As Hugh Brasher, the race director, explained it earlier this week: ‘I hope we can be a beacon of light in the darkness.’ The event will still collectively raise tens of millions of pounds.

The men’s race has been stripped of Mo Farah, who has returned his focus to the track. He will run as a pacemaker for British runners trying to hit the Olympic qualifying time, though there are those who wonder if he is also there to meet appearance criteria of his Nike contract. As ever, Nike dominate this race. Kipchoge, 35, will have the advantage of their controversial Alphafly Next% shoe, the one he wore to break two hours for an unofficial record last year.

Defending champion Brigid Kosgei leads a stacked women’s field alongside world gold medallist Ruth Chepngetich and 2018 London winner Vivian Cheruiyot. The three Kenyans will pursue Mary Keitany’s women’s world record of 2:17:01, set in 2017.

Mo Farah will run as a pacemaker for British runners trying to hit the Olympic qualifying time