London Marathon runners were fast last year - data

Runners picked up their pace between the 2022 and 2023 marathons

London Marathon runners recorded faster times between the 2022 and 2023 races, according to new data from an exercise app.

Run times provided by Strava, which tracks routes and performances, show the median finish time of its users dropped from four hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds in 2022 to four hours, six minutes and 36 seconds.

The data also revealed that London was the second most challenging of the world's major marathons, with only New York City recording a longer median average finish time.

More than 50% of the 48,000 people who completed last year's race uploaded their runs onto the Strava platform.

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Among other findings in the data was that runners who clocked a finish time of three hours and 30 minutes had run anywhere between 313 and 517 miles in the 16 weeks leading up to the race.

The typical athlete ran 499 miles in 16 weeks of training before the marathon, which is roughly the equivalent of running the distance from London to Aberdeen.

The figures also provide a comparison between the performance of different generations in the marathon.

About 50,000 people are expected to take part in Sunday's marathon

Gen X runners, typically considered to be people born between 1965 and 1980, maintained an average pace of 8.38 minutes per mile, only slightly slower than their younger Gen Z (1997-2012) counterparts who averaged 8.28 minutes per mile.

However, Gen X put in 47% more training miles than Gen Z, according to the data.

Of all the runners who uploaded their times to Strava at last year's marathon, 8% registered a sub three-hour finish time, while 45% finished the race in under four hours.

This year's London Marathon takes place on Sunday, with more than 50,000 runners aiming to tackle the 26.2 miles.

You can follow the action live on BBC One, iPlayer and BBC News website from 08:30 BST.