Drop everything and download: London Marathon 2019
Run with it
The London Marathon before handheld technology – just imagine it.
You’d have to slog along, hoping some nutcase in front wasn’t mischievously leading you to Sheffield. Or as a spectator, you’d have to sit there for hours, waiting for a loved one to appear, only to miss them when you made a beeline for the toilet after several coffees too many.
Well, no longer, because there’s an app for all of that – and it’s (rather sensibly) called London Marathon 2019.
What does it do?
The app essentially shoves as much of the London Marathon as it can into your phone. If you want to stalk celebrities, so you can do that annoying ‘running alongside them for a bit’ thing, have at it.
You can also track friends and family as they do their bit for charity, even flinging them a few quid by way of the built-in donations button. And the toilets? They’re flagged too. As are the best nearby pubs. Handy.
Runners can use the app in similar fashion, to peruse donations, find water stations, check they’re not accidentally running down the A21 to Bromley, and to make whimpering noises on finding out how far ahead of them Mo Farah is.
Any downsides?
When we started fiddling around with the app, we discovered a miles switch (hurrah!) that did precisely nothing on the map, which stubbornly remained wedded to km (hurroo). So you’d better get your metric on if you’re using that feature.
Also, it turns out this app won’t actually run the marathon for you, if you’re suddenly having second thoughts about running the kind of distance that, frankly, most of us at Stuff HQ reckon is approximately 26 miles too long.
Where can I get it?
As ever, app stores… London Marathon 2019 is available for Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store).
Good luck to everyone who’s taking part this weekend! May your feet rise to the occasion, and then hit the road again, all at the appropriate moments.
Craig Grannell
Contributor 
