London Marathon 2010 live coverage

UPDATE 12:06: Thanks for joining News Provider on our live coverage of the 2010 London Marathon. We hope you enjoyed as much as we did. See you soon for another News Provider live coverage of the most important sporting events. Have a great Sunday!

UPDATE 11:52: Mutai second, a minute away, Kirui dropped out in the least few hundred meters and Gharib is third.

UPDATE 11:51: MEN’S RACE WINNER! Kebede is the winner. His winning time is 2:05:18 .

UPDATE 11:45: Mutai coming in second, after passing Kirui. The two are very far away from the rest of the runners and Kebede is a minute away.

UPDATE 11:40: Kebede going very strong. He’s well away from Kirui with very little left to go.

UPDATE 11:34: In the men’s race, Kebede still leading with about 3 km to go.

UPDATE11:32: Kebede well in front of Kirui in the men’s race. He looks like he can grab the win.

UPDATE 11:20:  WOMEN’S RACE WINNER! Shobukova wins the race, with a time of 2:22:00  Inga Abytova second. Mergia, that looked like she could win it, finishes third. Russia gets a double.

UPDATE 11:18: Shobukova leading at the 40 km mark in the women’s race. Mergia now third, Abytova second.

UDPATE 11:16: Kirui and Kebede shoulder to shoulder leading the men’s race.

UPDATE 11:13: Sushida wins the women’s wheelchair race.

UPDATE 11:07: Kirui and Kebede leading in the men’s race. The time is 1:21.

UPDATE 11:05: Yet another leader change. Mergia forcing, Abitova very close behind at mile 23.

UPDATE 11:02: Abitova now leading the front pack in the women’s race.

UPDATE 10:59: Kirui still in front and keeping the pace.

UPDATE 10:58: Furley just crossed the finish line in 1:35 in the men’s wheelchair race. Hug second. David Weir comes third.

UPDATE 10:53: The men ran the first 20 km in 59:53.

UPDATE 10:50: Kirui, one of the favorites, still in the leading pack.

UPDATE 10:46: Ngatumi leading in the men’s race, at the 20 km mark. He’s part of a 12 racers pack. They’ve just crossed Tower Bridge. The pace is still amazing.

UPDATE 10:44: Shelly Woods leading in the women’s wheelchair race.

UPDATE 10:41: Shobukohova leading in the women’s race, followed by Mercia and Akaba.

UPDATE 10:35: The elite men are keeping a fantastic pace. What remains to be seen is whether they can keep it up until the end. A pack of racers in front of the race, including Kirui and Charib.

UPDATE 10:33: In the women’s race, Irina Mikitenk, last year’s winner, has dropped out.

UPDATE 10:24: Almost an hour to go for the women. Shobukova is leading the race, followed by Ozaki and Bai. Yamauchi has dropped to 11. The last mile was at 5:35.

UPDATE 10:10: David Weir is the leader of the wheelchair race by a very long distance.

UPDATE 9:52: The time of the Elite men for the opening mile is a very competitive one, 4:43.

UPDATE: 9:45: The big guys are coming in. Elite men’s + 37,000 other racers have just went past the starting line.

UPDATE: 9:35: Deenka Kastor is further and further from the pack.

UPDATE: 9:28: Yamauchi still leading in the women’s race. Cumulative time now looks to be around 2:20.

UPDATE: 9:22: Rain has started to fall. The wheelchair race is also now underway.

UPDATE 9:10: Mara Yamauchi in front of the leading pack.

UPDATE 9:00: It’s 9:00 AM and the women’s race has just started.

The 2010 London Marathon is well worth to watch live, especially since most of the world’s top athletes are set to run it, including names like Zersenay Tadese or Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru.

Sammy Wanjiru has showed his worries that the volcano ash cloud ban on flights might have an effect on his performance in today’s race. Due to flight cancellation, he had to be flown into London by private jet for this year’s race, along with two Kenyan runners, Duncan Kibet and Emmanuel Mutai.

Irina Mikitenk is the defending champion in the women’s race and everybody expects a solid performance from her today.

Over 35000 people are expected to run the Virgin London Marathon this year and the great weather seems to be on their side. The London Marathon was, with over 47 million pounds raised for charity last year, the biggest one-day fundraising event in the world. There are hopes that this year’s edition will also bring some serious funds for charity.

BBC is covering the Marathon in live streaming and also has a live audio commentary, while Universal Sports also broadcasts the marathon live.

There are extensive road closures all over London today, so you should be aware of this before planning to travel to distant parts of the city.