What an honour it was for The Singing Striders to perform at the 2024 TCS London Marathon, which took place on Sunday 21 April.
We were stationed at Mile 3 in Woolwich, as part of the ‘cheer squad’ for the disability charity Scope. Which meant we got to see pretty much all the runners (including the elites) at the start of the race.
Around 53,000 runners took part in the 2024 TCS London Marathon this year.
Due to the numbers taking part, the mass race has ‘wave starts’ – with competitors setting off in groups, with short gaps in between.
The first ‘waves’ typically include the best non-elite athletes – which means they’re moving pretty quick. Malixole Kalideni was the first male runner to complete the course in just 2 hours 14 minutes. Katie Olding was first female – finishing in around 2 hours 25 minutes.
While the runners in the early ‘waves’ smiled seemed appreciative of the the support, they were definitely more focused on their running than our singing. But this quickly turned into more of a ‘party’ atmosphere – with runners singing, clapping and dancing along as they passed. Some even stopped to take selfies and video with The Singing Striders (if you took any on the day, we’d love to see it!).
I think it’s fair to say runners definitely appreciated our ‘running themed’ set list. So much so. we abandoned our plans to take a break between sets. Which meant singing for a good 2.5 hours – until our portable amp ran out of power (fortunately just as the tail runner reached us).
While all the songs on our set list proved popular with runners, there were some clear favourites – including ‘Running All Over The World’ (our cover of the Status Quo classic), Race It Off (our cover of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off) and Keep On Running (the 1960s hit from the Spencer Davis band).
The idea of a choir singing to a marathon (instead of running one) certainly caught the attention of the media. Hence The Singing Striders were featured on BBC TV, radio and on the website – including this article about a Gravesend choir singing at the London Marathon.
Between us we’ve run at least half a dozen marathons, so could definitely relate to how the runners might be feeling – and how much music can lift your spirits in a race (particularly in the difficult moments, when you have to dig deep).
We’re so proud to have supported runners at the 2024 TCS London Marathon – who are reported, collectively, to have raised more than £50m. And we can’t wait to do it all again at the Great Manchester Run on Sunday 26 May.
Here’s a quick video montage of The Singing Striders at Mile 3 (Woolwich).
