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First held in 1986, the Mini London Marathon is one of the most prestigious youth events in the country. It has been the starting point for some of Britain’s best athletes and para-athletes, who have gone on to make their mark on the world stage.
To celebrate our historic 40th edition, taking place on Saturday 26 April 2025, we wanted to look back over the years at some of the highlights of this incredible event. This digital yearbook is a trip down memory lane, featuring stories from previous participants and the athletes and para-athletes who used the Mini London Marathon championships as a springboard to success.
Keith Cullen was among the first winners of the Mini London Marathon. He went on to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
Sharon won the event three times (1991, 1992 and 1993) and went on to represent Team GB at junior level, racing against Paula Radcliffe on many occasions. Sharon’s daughter, Amber, is competing in the U15 Girls category this year.
The Mini Marathon always inspired me to run the full marathon one day, and in 2021, that dream came true. Even more special, my son ran the Mini Marathon that same year—two generations, united by the same incredible experience.
A four-time winner, Caroline represented Brent with distinction – picking up her first medal in 1994. She returned in 1996 for her first of three victories in a row.
The ‘Weirwolf’ is one of Britain’s greatest-ever sportsmen. The six-time Paralympic champion and eight-time London Marathon winner started out at the Mini London Marathon, claiming a record seven victories.
David announced his retirement from international competition in 2024, having cemented his status as one of the all-time greats with four gold medals for Team GB at London 2012, adding to the two golds he won at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. The 45-year-old is gearing up for his 26th consecutive London Marathon on Sunday 27 April 2025, when he will be hunting a record-extending ninth title in the capital.
Selected teams from English counties are invited based on their performances at the English Schools Cross Country Championships
The Mini Marathon wasn’t just a race—it was the start of a lifelong passion. Running for Borough of Hounslow AC, I trained in the same group as Mo Farah (though nowhere near as fast!). On Race Day, the final stretch along the route, packed with cheering spectators, was unforgettable. My best finish was seventh or ninth – I was so proud.
The Mini Marathon shaped my love for running. I went on to study at Loughborough, ran competitively on the track, and later trained as a physiotherapist – directly inspired by my own experience with injuries. My 10-year-old has joined a cross-country club, and my two daughters love sport, just as I did.
Perri went on to represent Team GB, winning gold medals in the 400m and 4 x 400m at the 2013 European Indoor Championships, as well as gold in the 4 x 400m at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.
The Mini Marathon was a big deal. I remember wearing a T-shirt that was massive in comparison to my tiny self. I remember starting along the Embankment, so many children older and younger than me packed together eager and excited for the horn to go. The coolest part was finishing by The Mall/Buckingham Palace.
Winner of the U15 Girls category, Layla is now an integral member of the TCS Mini London Marathon Team, working as a School Engagement Manager.
As a previous Mini London Marathon winner and knowing how much of an impact the event had on me growing up, the fact I could be a part of a team that makes that same magic feeling happen for more young people is so inspiring!
Competed for Barnet over multiple years, finishing 1st in the U17 Women’s category in 1999. Jo went on to become an international track runner who held three British National records and is now a TV presenter and reporter. She is a host of BT Sport Boxing and reporter for Amazon Prime Video, covering football. Jo has covered four Olympic Games for ESPN and the Olympic Channel.
Sir Mo is a multiple winner of the Mini London Marathon, an event which helped launch a glittering career at the elite level. The greatest British distance runner of all time, Sir Mo won 10 global championship gold medals, including four Olympic and six World titles. He won gold medals in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races at both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is the most successful male track distance runner ever and is the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history.
Ali took up powerlifting aged 16 and went on to represent Team GB at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, finishing fourth. He won gold at the 2013 Asian Open Championships, making a world-record lift of 185.5kg. At the 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships, in Dubai, he became world champion in his class, setting another world record, lifting 190kg. Ali won silver for Team GB at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Before her decorated professional football career, Jill was a talented runner and won the U15 Girls race in 2001.
Jill went on to earn more than 150 caps for the Lionesses and won a host of domestic trophies, including the FA Cup and Women’s Super League.
Non went on to represent Great Britian and Wales at triathlon. She is a World and European champion and finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Non took up a coaching role with British Triathlon after retiring in 2022.
I have some of my fondest childhood running memories from the London Mini Marathon. From the stay the night before at the Royal Holloway University, to the colourful T-shirts down to your knees, and of course crossing that iconic London Marathon Finish Line. But two years really stand out. The first, my first-ever Mini Marathon, in 2001. I would only have been 12. I had no idea what to expect but I remember starting just before the long tunnel that brings you out onto the Embankment. I had no concept of how far 2.6 miles was. I just ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. I remember glancing up at Big Ben, thinking it was the Finish Line I started sprinting again, only to reach it and realise it was the one mile to go marker!
I had never run that far before – or on roads! Our training was just laps around a concrete sports cage at school, but on race day, everything felt bigger – the crowds, the atmosphere, the nerves. I’ll never forget the pride of representing Hackney, pushing through the final stretch, and racing to tell my PE teacher, Ms Bloomfield, how I’d done.
That experience stuck with me. Running faded from my life for a while, but the feeling of resilience and achievement never left. Years later, I found my way back, and running has since taken me all over the world—from completing the London Marathon and earning my World Marathon Majors Six Star medal to coaching with Track Mafia and inspiring other women to chase their own goals.
Eilish will be following in the footsteps of her mum and 1996 champion, Liz, when she makes her much-anticipated debut over 26.2 miles, at the 2025 TCS London Marathon. Eilish is yet another athletics superstar who started out at the Mini London Marathon.
I was so excited to represent Scotland. It was a big deal, travelling down from Dundee to London. My mum has been a huge inspiration to me. When I was five or six years old, watching her, I had no idea what it meant to win the London Marathon. But obviously as an adult, training for it myself, I’ve got a greater understanding of what she had to do to achieve that. It will be pretty special to be there on the Start Line competing as an elite athlete.
Martyn reached the 400m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4 x 400m relay. He was a mainstay on the final leg of Team GB’s 4 x 400m relay teams, winning silver at the 2009 World Championships, and bronze in the 2015 and 2017 World Championships. He won gold in the 400m and 4 x 400m relay races at the 2014 European Championships, and retained the 400m title two years later, in Amsterdam.
Derek represented host nation Scotland in the men’s marathon at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He finished ninth in a time of 2:14:15. He finished 14th at the 2016 London Marathon; the third British-qualified athlete to finish. He competed for Great Britain in the marathon event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Mickey won gold in the T53 100m at the 2012 London Paralympics and silver over the same distance at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. He is the British record holder at 100m and 200m, and a European record holder at 100m. Mickey was awarded an MBE in 2013 for services to athletics.
Shelly is a two-time Mini London Marathon winner. She is also a two-time London Marathon champion, winning the women’s wheelchair race in 2007 and 2012. She represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and London 2012, where she claimed a silver medal in the marathon.
It was an incredible experience lining up alongside athletes from across the country – some representing their counties, others their London boroughs. I proudly represented Bedfordshire.
The atmosphere running up the Embankment is something I’ll never forget. That year, in 2005, Paula Radcliffe broke the world record. After finishing our race, we rushed down to the course to cheer her on. As a Bedford & County Athletics Club runner [also Paula’s club], seeing my hero fly past and make history was unforgettable – we weaved through the crowds, trying to catch every glimpse!
The county teams are replaced by regions (11 including home nations)
Georgia won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 1,500m, setting a new British record. That year, she also won silver at the European Athletics Championships and became British national champion,
indoors and outdoors, in the 1,500m. Georgia returned to the Mini London Marathon in 2010, winning the U17 title.
One of the best marathon runners in British history, Charlotte will be back on the London Start Line in 2025. She finished 10th in London in 2021 and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics with a 2:22:17 in Berlin but had to withdraw due to injury. After winning a number of youth titles at national level, Charlotte had her first international success at the European Cross-Country Championships, winning medals in the junior races of 2007 and 2008.
A middle and long-distance runner, Steph competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Jake represented Scotland at the 2008 and 2009 Mini London Marathons, with a best-placed finish of 21st in the U15 Boys race in 2009. Since then, he has progressed to become one of the world’s best middle-distance runners.
For me, the Mini London Marathon was the highlight of my junior career because it is such a different event. I never used to do any track until I was 17 and it was mainly cross-country for me when I was younger – and this was much different to that!
We used to go down to London for the Mini London Marathon and not have a clue who anyone was. We were a bit sheltered. For us to come as far south as London and be part of an event like that was awesome. It was a proper occasion and a great race.
Ciara Mageean, from County Down, Northern Ireland, ran the Mini London Marathon three times and won the U17 Women’s race in 2009. She has gone on to win silver and bronze medals in the 1,500m at the 2016 and 2022 European Championships, plus a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
It was actually winning the Mini London Marathon in 2009 that made me think I should start taking my running seriously.
Steph Twell was my biggest inspiration – she won my race in 2007. The following year she won the 1,500m at the World Junior Championships and I was 10th. I really looked up to her. It was the Mini London Marathon that enabled me to get to know Steph and the other girls better and appreciate the sharpness of competition. Before that, my tactic was just to run as hard as I could until I fell over!
Georgina is now a professional squash player. She became the first English woman to win a Commonwealth Games squash singles gold medal, at the 2022 Birmingham Games.
A promising runner, Georgia was ranked first in England for the 1,500 metres at U12 level and trained with sprint star Dina Asher-Smith at Blackheath and Bromley Harriers. However, having first played squash at the age of nine, she later, aged 13, decided to focus on squash, playing for the Parklangley Club.
Zac is an English runner specialising in the 3,000m steeplechase. He won a gold medal at the 2013 European Junior Championships and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
I actually started in athletics with the discus and was competing at the UK School Games when Ian Thompson, husband of Tanni Grey-Thompson, asked if I had ever thought about wheelchair racing. My dad was with me and, being a typical Yorkshireman, said: ‘Well, we’re down here now, you might as well have a go’. So I did – and I loved it so much that I quit throwing on the spot.
I particularly remember the second year because the competition was really on. Jade Jones (another athlete who has progressed from the Mini London Marathon to the Paralympics) had come up into my age group and we both just got our heads down and raced.
Laura was 26th in the U17 Women’s race in 2010 but has since represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games and is a European champion.
Jade’s early success at the Mini London Marathon set her on a path to competing at international level, both as a para-athlete and para-triathlete.
In 2012, London was the focus of the world as it hosted the Summer Olympics. Team GB won a total of 65 medals as our athletes etched their names in the history books. Meanwhile, the next generation of Great Britain’s Olympians were starting out on their journeys, at the Mini London Marathon...
The Scottish middle-distance runner finished 10th in the 1,500m at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Josh won bronze in the 1,500m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished just ahead of Neil in the 1,500m in Paris, claiming the silver medal.
Jess’s performances as a 17-year-old in 2012 had many predicting big things for her but London came too soon while a torn hamstring ruined her Rio 2016 chances. She finished 17th in the 10,000m final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and ran in the heats of the 5,000m.
Jemma was just 14 when she carried the Olympic torch for London 2012. Now she’s a two-time Olympian. She finished fourth in the 800m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and fell just short of another shot at an 800m medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she finished outside the qualifying places in the semi-final.
Sammi is a British wheelchair racer who started out at the Mini London Marathon, finishing second in 2012. She went on to win gold in the 100m at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, and is a three-time World champion and a three-time European champion.
Growing up Jamal was a talented athlete, competing at national level over 800m and 1,500m. He is now a professional footballer. He started out at his hometown club, Luton, as a youth player before moving to Norwich. He’s been at Newcastle since 2020 but had loan spells at Watford and Sao Paulo. Jamal has represented Northern Ireland at international level.
Lauren started as a wheelchair racer, winning the U17 Women’s category at the 2024 Mini London Marathon, before switching to para-rowing. She has won three Paralympic gold medals and is a two-time World champion and two-time European champion.
The TCS Mini London Marathon moves to the Saturday, the day before the TCS London Marathon, to enable even more children and young people to participate.
The virtual event, the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools, goes from strength to strength, with more than 435,000 schoolchildren signed up for the 2025 edition.
British triathlete and distance runner Alex raced the Mini London Marathon five times (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015), finishing third on two occasions (in 2013 and 2015). He will make his TCS London Marathon debut in 2025.
I remember racing the Mini London Marathon multiple times as a young athlete and it was one of my biggest and most exciting races of the year. Taking part in a full marathon has always been an itch I’ve wanted to scratch and there isn’t any another place than London that I would want to start that journey.
I remember boarding the coach with Team Croydon in the early hours outside Fairfield Halls, heading into London full of nerves and energy. On arrival, we were placed into our age group pens, handed our race T-shirts, and given our team representation – I still have mine!
The atmosphere during the race was electric. It made me feel like a professional, and the experience left a lasting impression. The Mini London Marathon was truly inspiring, and I have such fond memories of it.
Now, I’m training for the full London Marathon this April, and there’s no doubt that running the Mini Marathon all those years ago played a huge role in keeping me motivated. That first experience sparked something in me, and now I’m taking on the big one!
Not all future stars were among the leading finishers at the Mini London Marathon. Keely Hodgkinson finished 42nd in the U17 Women’s race in 2017. She is now an Olympic champion...
The 23-year-old won gold for Team GB in the 800m at the 2024 Paris Olympics, capping a meteoric rise to the elite level. At the age of 19, Keely won silver in the 800m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Gold medals in the European Championships and European Indoor Championships followed, as well as silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In 2024, Keely was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Jess is a mountain running world champion and won gold in the team event at the 2024 European Cross-Country Championships. On the road, she won the Mini London Marathon in 2021 and set a new British U20 5K record – in Barrowford, in November 2024 – running 15:25 to take seven seconds off the previous mark set by Innes FitzGerald.
Phoebe finished 6th in the U17 Women’s race at the 2022 Mini London Marathon. The teenager impressed on her Olympic debut at Paris 2024, progressing through the heats but just missing out on a place in the final.
Phoebe sealed her spot in Paris by storming to 800m victory at the 2024 UK Athletics Championships, beating Olympic finalists Jemma Reekie and Georgia Bell to the title. She narrowly missed out on a shot at an 800m medal in Paris, finishing fourth in the semi-final.
U17 Women’s winner in 2022 and 2023, Innes is a British track and field athlete and cross-country runner. She is the 2023 and 2024 European U20 Cross-Country Champion. The young athlete is passionate about the environment and has sacrificed race entry due to concerns about the impact of travel. In January 2023, Innes turned down the opportunity to compete at the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Australia because of climate fears. In October 2023, Innes was named Young Athlete of the Year at the BBC Green Sport Awards for her refusal to fly across the world to compete.
The Commonwealth Games champion and four-times Olympian has fond memories of those early years competing against the best young runners from across the UK.
She won the 1,500 metres at the 2008 World Junior Championships and is a three-time winner of the European Junior Cross-Country Championships (2006–2008), as well as being part of four winning Great Britain teams. Representing Scotland, she won a bronze medal in the 1,500 metres at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
He has silver and bronze medals from European Championships for 800m (2022) and 1500m (2018) and two bronze medals in the 1,500m from the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games. But his biggest success to date is winning the 1,500m title at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, US
Hannah is one of Britain’s most famous and decorated Paralympians. She took part in two Mini London Marathons, in 2009 and 2010, and won on both occasions despite taking up wheelchair racing only months before her first victory in 2009.
She has gone on to become a British Paralympic great, winning seven medals in distances between 100m and 800m across three Paralympics (London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020). She is also the world record holder for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m in the T34 classification.
Over the 1,500m distance, Laura won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and bronze at the 2022 World Championships. She has three other top-five placings in 1,500m finals at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fifth in 2015, fourth in 2017 (where she was also sixth in the 5,000m) and fifth in 2019. The Scot is a two-time European 1,500m champion, from 2018 and 2022, as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1,500m champion and 800m bronze medallist. Laura has two Diamond League titles for 1,500m, from 2016 and 2018.
Jade began her career in para-athletics as a wheelchair racer and won a bronze medal in the T54 1,500m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games as well as silver and bronze at the European Championships in the same year.
She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a year later made her international para-triathlon debut, winning silver at the 2017 World Championships in Rotterdam. Jade then won para-triathlon gold medals at the 2017 European Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Alex has won four Olympic Games medals for triathlon, including gold at Paris 2024, and is the 2024 World champion. The born-and-bred Londoner is relishing his 26.2-mile debut.