London Marathon 2025: John Terry, X-Factor winner and the celebrities running this year
Footballers including John Terry and Jack Wilshere, plus singer Alexandra Burke, are among the famous faces taking to the London Marathon start line on Sunday morning
It promises to be the biggest marathon of all time and among the anticipated 56,000 who will take to the start line in Greenwich on Sunday morning will be Olympic champions in other sports, football legends and a host of big names from the entertainment world.
Sir Jason Kenny, Britain's most successful Olympian of all time, will make his marathon debut along with Rio 2016 diving champ Chris Mears. And Kenny said: 'I've never seen myself as a runner, but since retiring from competing on the bike I've started to run more and completely fallen in love with it.
'Taking on the TCS London Marathon for the first time is a huge challenge, but I'm excited to step out of my comfort zone. It's a different kind of test and I'm ready to give it my all.'
Cricket legends Sir Andrew Strauss and Sir Alastair Cook, who have 261 international Test appearances between them, will be running for the Ruth Strauss Foundation.
John Terry, Jack Wilshere, Danny Mills and Steve Sidwell are among the former footballers taking to the start line with Wilshere and Sidwell raising awareness for the British Heart Foundation.
They will be joined in Greenwich by X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke, who is supporting Diabetes UK.
Burke lost her mum, Melissa, to diabetes aged 53 in 2017. She will run alongside her fiance, the former Premier League goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
Pop star Harry Judd, best known as the drummer in the band McFly, is running the race for a third time, and Joe Wicks is returning for the first time in a decade as he raises money for The Body Coach Foundation.
The 39-year-old is not worrying about the time he records this time around: 'I'm so looking forward to enjoying the journey this time. I'm planning to run at a slower pace, just to enjoy the experience and cheer as many people on throughout the day.'
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan also returns to the London Marathon after running last year. He is aiming to raise £115,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust.
Ranganathan said: 'I was lucky enough to visit Teenage Cancer Trust units across the country during my tour last year, so I decided to run the TCS London Marathon again to fundraise for the charity I saw first-hand how invaluable Teenage Cancer Trust's work is. The support they offer to not only teens and young adults with cancer, but their families too, is remarkable.
'By running the marathon, I want to raise as much money as I possibly can and to raise as much awareness for the charity as I can. My target is £115,000, which will pay for two Teenage Cancer Trust nurses for a year and any support is greatly appreciated.'
Tony Audenshaw, who has played Bob Hope on ITV soap Emmerdale since 2000 lost his wife to pancreatic cancer in 2017, so has decided to run this year to support Pancreatic Cancer UK, the race's official charity, a decade on from his last outing.
Fellow actors Lisa McGrillis and Kedar Williams-Stirling, who both appeared on the hit Netflix show Sex Education, will be taking part in the event for the first time. McGrillis will run for the BHF, Williams-Stirling for the WWF.
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