London Update - Possible Mass Marathon; Questionable Boost to Kids' Sport

A mass participation road racecould be held in conjunction with the 2012 Olympic marathons. (Getty Images)London’s efforts to offer a more “inclusive” Games could see a mass participation road race staged in conjunction with the 2012 Olympic marathons.

The organizers of the 2012 Games have held top-level talks with officials from the London Marathon, which was staged through the streets of the British capital for the 29th time.

Mass races have been staged in conjunction with marathons at past athletics world championships, most recently in Helsinki in 2005. But such an ambitious logistical venture has yet to be attempted at an Olympic Games.

The 2012 Olympic marathon course has yet to be fixed. It is expected to start in central London and finish at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

With tens of thousands of citizen runners setting off on the Olympic marathon course after the elite athletes, perhaps even finishing on the track in the stadium, the event would guarantee a huge crowd along the route. It would fulfill a part of London 2012’s promises of inclusivity and improving people’s health, while also potentially delivering millions of dollars to charitable causes through pledges to runners.

London Marathon chairman Nick Bitel and race director Dave Bedford were an obvious point of contact for LOCOG. The duo has vast experience staging events on public roads and liaising with agencies such as the police and Royal Parks.

An announcement confirming the marathon organization’s role was expected shortly after this week’s race, but sources at London 2012 said there was “nothing to say right now." Marathon organizers say they are waiting for LOCOG to make the next move.

Olympic Marathon’s Rich London History

London will make much of the marathon event’s heritage: it was the first London Olympics, in 1908, The standard distance of the London Marathon is 42.185 km. (Getty Images)which established the now standard distance of the road race (42.185 km), due to the drama created when the race leader, Italy’s Dorando Pietri, collapsed with exhaustion on the White City track within sight of the finishing line.

When Delfo Cabrera, of Argentina, won the dramatic 1948 London Olympic marathon, his 16 second-winning margin over Tom Richards, of Britain, remained the closest in Games history for 40 years.

So popular is the London Marathon in British sport and culture that the race’s Web site crashed Monday when applications opened for places on the start line in 2010 – this despite the event being sponsored from next April by Virgin, an Internet service provider. The 2009 race attracted 150,000 applicants.

Mayor Could Pay Drug Cheat to Boost Kids’ Sport

Sprinter Linford Christie, a banned drugs cheat, could receive public money for a community sports scheme aimed at children as young as 10 proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

The 1992 Olympicchampion'scareer ended 10 years ago when he tested positive for anabolic steroids.The sprinterhas since started a management company, "Nuff" Respect, which, among other things, began staging street athletics in inner London schools four years ago.

It has since received more than $1 million of public money from government agency Sport England to run the scheme. Labour MP Kate Hoey Lambeth constituency has been one of Nuff Respect’s venues.

On Tuesday, Johnson was in Croydon, south of London, with his sports commissioner, Hoey, to publicize the release of $22 million to boost sports participation in the city over the next three years.

Research has shown that only 16 percent Sprinter Linford Christie could receive public money for a community sports scheme aimed at children as young as 10 proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson. (Getty Images)of 6 million Londoners regularly take part in sport. More than one-fifth of London’s children are classified as obese, with 50 percent of Londoners defined as “inactive." The “Sporting Future for London” paper, devised by Hoey, is the summation of “the Mayor's vision to create a fitter, healthier, more active London.”

“The success of the Olympics must not be judged on regeneration benefits in the east of London alone,” Johnson said. “This is a once in a lifetime chance to increase sport participation and activity, tackle social and health inequalities and bring the capital’s communities together under the same vision.

The document promises two “mobile” swimming pools to teach 10,000 children in deprived areas, a London boxing academy to be established, and “street athletics," organizing sprint races in school playgrounds to enthuse a new generation of runners.

The latter initiative could see at least $1.5 million in government funding through 2012 going to the company run by Christie.

The London Mayor’s office was unable to say whether funding would be withheld from any scheme because it was operated by a proven drugs cheat. “It has got to go out to tender,” a City Hall spokesman told Around the Rings. The first funding round is expected to be agreed by the end of May.

Londoner Christie has been kept away from official 2012 activities because of his doping history. He also registered an adverse drug test result at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when he was “given the benefit of the doubt” by the IOC’s disciplinary committee.

Christie was excluded from London’s Olympic bidding team, was not one of the torch-bearers in the city last year and has been denied formal credentials at the last three Games. He coached 2004 Olympic 4x100m relay gold medalist Darren Campbell.

Briefs…

… Nearly 60 of the U.K.’s leading museums and libraries will stage Stories of the World, a series of exhibitions that will reconnect collections with their local communities, it was announced Tuesday. One of the major projects of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the $9 million project will allow local people to “dig into the past and dust it down."

… British Handball, one of the national governing bodies hit by UK Sport’s funding cuts, has appointed a sports marketing agency to help it raise funds for its qualifying campaign towards the London Games. Oaks Consultancy, based near Coventry, has been tasked to raise $2.2 million for the sport.

Written by Steven Downes For general comments or questions, click here