The 1981 London Marathon was the first running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on Sunday, 29 March. The elite men's race was won in a time of 2:11:48 hours by two athletes, American Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen of Norway, who crossed the finish line holding hands. The women's race was won by Britain's Joyce Smith in 2:29:57.[1]

1st London Marathon
VenueLondon, United Kingdom
Date29 March 1981
Champions
MenDick Beardsley & Inge Simonsen (2:11:48)
WomenJoyce Smith (2:29:57)
1982 →

Around 20,000 people applied to enter the race, of which 7747 had their applications accepted and around 7055 started the race. A total of 6255 runners finished the race.[2]

Results

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Position Athlete Nationality Time
  Dick Beardsley   United States 2:11:48
  Inge Simonsen   Norway 2:11:48
  Trevor Wright   United Kingdom 2:12:53
4 Mike Kearns   United Kingdom 2:13:37
5 Graham Laing   United Kingdom 2:13:59
6 Brian Cole   United Kingdom 2:14:01
7 James Dingwall   United Kingdom 2:14:54
8 Keith Penny   United Kingdom 2:15:31
9 Paul Eales   United Kingdom 2:15:55
10 Don Faircloth   United Kingdom 2:16:36

Women

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Position Athlete Nationality Time
  Joyce Smith   United Kingdom 2:29:57
  Ngaire Drake   New Zealand 2:37:12
  Gillian Horovitz   United Kingdom 2:40:44
4 Kathy Molitor   United States 2:42:26
5 Sally Strauss   United States 2:42:42
6 Karen Holdsworth   United Kingdom 2:43:28
7 Suzan Morris   United Kingdom 2:43:28
8 Julie Barleycorn   United Kingdom 2:45:33
9 Véronique Marot   France 2:46:51
10 Margaret Lockley   United Kingdom 2:47:29
11 Leslie Watson   United Kingdom 2:48:06

References

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  1. ^ Sports Hour: Hand In Hand. BBC (20 April 2016). Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  2. ^ Stats and Figures Archived 23 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. London Marathon. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
Results
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