Sir Mo Farah sets new British record at hottest-ever London marathon

Sir Mo Farah came third in yesterday’s London marathon, finishing in 2:06:21 as the temperature in St James’s Park reached 23.5C, the hottest ever for a marathon day.

His time was a new British record, beating Steve Jones’s 1985 time of 2:07:13, but he was just over two minutes behind Kenyan winner Eliud Kipchoge. Ethiopia’s Tola Shura Kitata finished second.

Farah retired from track events to focus on road races last year.

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Scotsman David Weir was also celebrating after the race, winning the men’s wheelchair title for the eighth time. His victory was particularly impressive given the heat – Weir said he opened his visor while racing to cool down.

Organisers were concerned that the high temperatures would affect amateur runners in elaborate costumes – and urged the 40,000 competitors to be careful and rethink their plans given the forecast, says Sky News.

Mobile water stations had to be deployed, says the The Daily Mail, after some of the static stations ran out of bottled water to give runners. The London Evening Standard says some runners claimed on Twitter that they had to go seven miles without rehydrating.

According to The Daily Telegraph, a few competitors took matters into their own hands and made pit-stops at pubs and restaurants for water.

There was controversy over former glamour model Katie Price, who was competing in a giant costume of a pair of lungs, raising money for research on the terminal lung condition from which her mother suffers.

Price had vowed to finish the race even if she had to “crawl” - but was spotted eating in a restaurant with her mother during the race, after pulling out about one third through. She insisted later that she had trained but suffered a knee injury.