Paula Radcliffe
Women's marathon world record holder on BBC TV

Image source, Reuters

You have to be smart in the marathon and understand what your body can run on that given day. If you go beyond it, you are going too fast, so it's best to stay within that line.

That is what Mo Farah is doing. It's better to run where he is currently running and hope that there are men in that leading group who cannot maintain their current pace.

Image source, B

Eliud Kipchoge has Ethiopians Mosinet Geremew and Tola Shura Kitata for company at the front of the race.

Down in sixth and running the race on his own is Mo Farah.

Has this spurt finally put paid to Vivian Cheruiyot?

Brigid Kosgei has a lead of 100m as she clocks a five-minute mile through the 23-mile checkpoint.

Brigid Kosgei goes again!

The Kenyan has another poke of pace at the front.

But Vivian Cheruiyot is harder to shift than chewing gum from the seat of your trousers.

The defending champion is three seconds back.

Four miles or so to go.

Thousands are running to raise money for charities and causes and one of them is Glenn Youens from St Helens.

His daughter Violet was four when she was knocked down and killed by a speeding driver in 2017 and he is running the marathon to raise money for the charity set up in her name and also a petition calling for a change in the law.

He said: "I’ll be flying the flag high for my special angel. Hopefully I will get seen and get the message out there that the sentencing guidelines are outdated."

Image source, BBC Sport

Tola Shura Kitata and Eliud Kipchoge are among the frontrunners as the men's field gets strung out.

Mo Farah can see clear tarmac between him and the leading group after a 4:32 mile from the frontrunners.

Is discretion is the better part of valour? Or is this race heading away from him around mile 14?

Brigid Kosgei has company.

The Kenyan sees defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot pull up to her bumper.

There is a little rock and roll to Kosgei's stride now. Cheruiyot, by contrast, is rolling on casters.

Cheruiyot is where you would put your money now I think...

Six miles to go.

A crowd scene as the men's leading contenders - including Eliud Kipchoge and Mo Farah - head off Tower Bridge and towards the halfway mark.

Farah is lurking at the back of the pack, just as he did during his track career.

Paula Radcliffe
Women's marathon world record holder on BBC TV

Image source, Reuters

Mo Farah looks calmer than he did at this stage last year. He is just staying at the back of the pack and not committing too much. Eliud Kipchoge is the king at this and he is constantly telling his pacemakers what he wants from them.

Chicago champion Brigid Kosgei has thrown down the gauntlet with a five-minute mile after a 4:57 effort that has pulled her clear at the 19-mile mark.

Fellow Kenyan and defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot is in her rear view mirror.

Too much? Or has Kosgei just her knockout punch right?

Paula Radcliffe
Women's marathon world record holder on BBC TV

Britain's Charlotte Purdue looks more relaxed now than she did during the early stages of the race. She's breathing well and she looks comfortable.

We think she is up around 10th.

The gas has been cranked up under the women's race.

And it has proved too spicy a pace for New York champion and three-time London winner Mary Keitany.

The Kenyan has been left behind with compatriots Vivian Cheruiyot and Brigid Kosgei and Ethiopia's Roza Dereje at the front of affairs.

Kate Karalius from Cheshire is running her second London Marathon, her first was in 2003 and she will be raising money for the NSPCC. Her daughter Eva and husband Paul are waiting at Tower Bridge for her. They said: "Good luck! Hope you have an amazing run. We're very proud of you. Keep shuffling!"

Image source, BBC Sport

American Tatyana McFadden, a four-time winner of the London Marathon, finishes second just ahead of the Australian 2018 winner Madison de Rozario.

Manuela Schar adds yet another title to her glittering global collection.

London joins Berlin, Chicago, New York and Tokyo in her palmares.

What dominance.

Manuela Schar is in glorious isolation at the front of the women's race.

The Swiss has been too good for her own good. The lack of company at the front of the race has not helped her in time terms.

300 yards to go.

This is the weather forecast for the rest of the day.

After last year's 20+ degree heat, it is much more friendly for fast times.

Seal built Heidi Klum an igloo at the top of a mountain in the Canadian Rockies, complete with food, champagne, and a double bed strewn with rose petals, and flew her up there in a helicopter to pop the question.

But they are divorced now.

'Roary' knows the score. He proposed while dressed as an inflatable dinosaur on Tower Bridge.