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OLYMPIC MARATHON COURSE MAP

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Course Map ©Hugh Jones 2012

This is the course map drawn by Hugh Jones for the official measurement on 13 June 2012. Previous versions had existed prior to the test event held on 30 May 2011, after which the last significant changes were made to the course, including:

  1. At the extreme north point of the course, the test course turned right from King Edward Street into Little Britain and right again at the the junction of Little Britain and St Martin Le Grand. The final route was changed to continued along King Edward Street (this section is actually also called Little Britain), and Montague Street before going clockwise around the roundabout at the Museum of London and turned there into Aldersgate Street, becoming St Martin Le Grand.
  2. At the east end of Gresham St the course used for the test event continued along Lothbury, turned right into Bartholemew Lane, and right again at Threadneedle Street to reach the west end of Cornhill. The final route missed out this loop around the Bank of England: the runners turned right from Gresham St/Lothbury into Princes St to reach the west end of Cornhill.

The final offsets for the two turning points are also shown.These are based on Hugh's measurement data from our final measurement rides of 13 June 2012 .

There are five details not shown on this final map:

  1. Around the cobbled perimeter of the Queen Victoria Memorial cones were to be placed with their outer edge 1m from the function of the cobbles with the smooth tarmac. For our measurement we marked the running line with chalk 1.3 m from the cobbles.
  2. As shown in the map the runners are guided into the right half of The Mall. At the pedestrian crossing at the West end of The Mall, we marked a point with chalk were the runners leaving the circle of the Queen Victoria Memorial would pass as they turned on to a line immediatle to the right of the centre line of the Mall. I did not record the details of the exact positioning of this chalk mark.
  3. At the entrance and exit of the Guildhall Courtyard, the rising bollards were to be retracted and therunners were to pass through this section. The fixed bollards on either side would be barriered to prevent runners passing between the fixed barriers and the adjacent buildings.
  4. At the right turn from the eastbound half of Leadenhall St into Wittington Avenue a 4.4m radius was measured and marked by Hugh and David to be coned off in order to create a gentler turn.
  5. At the junction of White Lion Hill and the Victoria Embankment there is a removable metal kerb on the left hand side to guide the traffic. It was agreed that this would be removed for the a marathon so we measured the very slightly shorter route across the metal kerb.

I watched the TV pictures of the race very closely and I am able to confirm that all the above 5 points were correctly marked on the race days and the runners followed the route we measured. Hugh and David of course were on the spot during the preparation of the course for the race and during the actual events and they obviously can provide official confirmation that the course available on the day and run was that measured.

Course Profile

The organisers had Sean Hartnett of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire prepare an elevation profile for the course using data from elevation surveys.

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