London Marathon

[dzadams1]

Hi,
Does anyone know what time would be safe to book a train after the London Marathon back to Newcastle if I plan to finish in around five hours or less.
Thanks

What time will you be starting? As an estimate.

I haven't received any info yet about that but want to book a train before prices start to go up.

I think what they meant was what is your estimated finish time, as the start is seeded, faster runners at the front

Sorry quoted the wrong post 😳

Hmm. So five hours or so, you'll be in a later wave but not the last waves. Say you start at 11am and you're done by 4pm.
You'll want an hour to get your baggage back, get through the crowds, get some food in you and get some warmer clothes on.
Then another hour (minimum) to get to Kings Cross as the tubes are packed, plus you won't be able to walk down the stairs very well. I speak from experience.

So 6pm at the very earliest but I wouldn't risk it, in case you're in a late start wave, you have a 'mare on the course or you get stuck trying to travel across London afterwards.
I'd book a train for 8ish to be extra safe, with the aim of having a leisurely trip back to the station and then something to eat around St Pancras/Kings Cross before the train home

I'd suggest, you plan to stay over & travel back on the Monday, if you can. It takes the extra stress away, allowing you to enjoy the day more. Getting out of the finish area can take a while (lots of people milling around & you may want/need to have a sit down or enjoy taking in some of the atmosphere).

Very good advice here - particularly about the stairs! To be honest I would book a reasonably-priced hotel for the night (with a bath!) and travel home the next day because you'd be getting home well after midnight because it's about a four hour journey I think?

Thanks for that but I might have to be back at work in the morning, I can meet my wife with warm clothes at the station but is that not advisable 😬

So even with all my training will my legs still be struggling 🫣

I didn't struggle with stairs afterwards. Maybe I didn't try hard enough;)

Yeah, you'll be totally cooked. Whatever you do at the finish, don't sit down, keep moving.

Walking (slowly) on the flat will be OK. Going up stairs will be hard work. Going down stairs will be hell on earth.

From memory I think I finished about 3ish, I somehow ended up in the first wave though which was wild as I definitely wasn’t that fast. Grabbed bags, and went straight to the tube station once had had pics etc, I think we got the train about 6 but that was back to Birmingham so not as far as you have to go- I didn’t struggle with stairs either, it was more my back! Try and keep moving so you don’t seize up and you should be fine.

OMG, I work on an oil rig, this is going to be fun 🤣

Nice one, do you think i should be OK to book around six o clock then.

I don’t recall having real problems getting on a tube and train afterwards. It’s busy but not that bad. I don’t think you’d have a problem booking a 6pm train but I guess if anything goes wrong and you take much longer you may be later. Usually you can still get on a different train but you won’t have a seat reservation. Going downstairs may be a problem but not usually until the next day.

Depends on your plans after you finish and where you need to collect your luggage for the journey back.

My friend and I did it last year and finished before 2pm, and we booked the 18:27 heading back to Newcastle.

In between that time, we got back to our accommodation in North Greenwich before 3 to shower and grab our bags. We left at around 4pm, and got to KX with plenty of time to grab a coffee and sandwhich.

You are right to book soon though because ticket prices are creeping up.

Thanks, good advice, that's the train I was looking at

My friend and I did it last year and finished before 2pm, and we booked the 18:27 heading back to Newcastle

Yes.. but you guys weren't first time marathoners with an anticipated finish time of five hours.

I've done plenty marathons and now have a very good idea of what time I'll start, what time I'll finish and how long it will take me to get over the finish line. Hence I'd be very confident in booking an early evening train home.
As a first timer just starting out on a marathon training block though, all these things are up in the air. You can't really know what time you'll finish or what state you're likely to be in afterwards.

Don't know if this is at all helpful but I've just checked my Strava and last time I ran London I crossed the start line at 10.21am and finished at 1.50pm.

Realistically if you're aiming for 5hours or so you won't be starting until 11am at the earliest, I'd guess, so finishing 4pm at the earliest.

I don't know if baggage queues are longer towards that end of the field; but in my experience they're very well organised and it doesn't take that long to get your stuff back. What does take longer is finding family - have a good plan in place in advance, as you can't rely on phones to be working properly due to how busy it is.

@FeelinTwentySixPointTwo We were second time marathoners but first time in London. We had no idea when we'd finish, hence why we chose a late train instead of one at say 4pm.

As you are going to Newcastle, there are half hourly trains right up to 8pm, then it's every hour from then. The prices are all the same as well at the moment so you have many options there lif you're not in a rush to get back.

In terms of reuniting with family and friends, here will be organised meet up areas usually grouped alphabetically. We didn't need to use them ourselves, but a tip that I saw somewhere, probably one of the FB groups, was to get your family to meet by letter Q or Z, as there would be fewer people there!

I’d book a later train than some are suggesting

Firstly because your start time is unknown, so if it’s say 11:30 rather than 11:00 that pp was working on, that’s already ‘lost’ you time.

I really hope you have a brilliant run, but there’s always the possibility that you don’t - do your 5 hours might be 5:30, and so you might not be finished until 5ish. Then you need to get medal, bag, take celebratory photos, walk, maybe stretch, start eating. Then get away from the finish area (which will be very crowded, and you have to follow the marshalled routes until you’re well clear)

You could walk for a bit further (north, away from the route and the road closures) then treat yourself to a black cab

Or tube - nearest station which goes directly to KX is Leicester Square, Piccadilly Line - Charing Cross is closest station, but you’d need to change lines. Buses are harder to predict as those which go close to the route may well be on diversion. Sorry to be a pessimist, but if you’ve crocked yourself, you might not feel much like walking, let alone tackling stairs!!

So I’d be planning defensively, expecting everything to take longer than it should. If you get to KX early, there’s loads of places to eat (and sit down) whilst you wait.

I’d go for no earlier than 7pm - because I’d want everything to be as leisurely and unstressed as possible by that stage