This year's marathon of the British capital is shaping up to be an exciting running event – here's how to watch the London Marathon 2022 from anywhere, with a choice of live streams and free options.
Although there will be plenty of amazing long-distance runners to watch, including last year's champion Sisay Lemma, and World Half Marathon Championships Silver medallist Joyciline Jepkosgei, many big-ticket names have already withdrawn from the race. These include four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, women's marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei, and Scottish wonder woman Eilish McColgan, who had an amazing year so far but decided to delay her marathon debut until next April.
The weather forecast for the day is not the worst: 13 Celsius degrees with overcast skies. As long as the air won't be too stuffy, the conditions might be ideal for elites to run good times. Will there be a world record? Possibly not, but at least we'll get to see current marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge dishing out medals for the Mini Marathon winners.
According to the London Marathon website, 197 countries will have some sort of coverage of the event, with BBC showing the TCS London Marathon across BBC1, BBC2, Online, iPlayer and Red Button on Sunday, 2 October 2022.
We're sure you'll be inspired to take up running after watching the London Marathon 2022, so make sure you check out T3's best running shoes and best women's running shoe roundups. We also have a guide for the best running headphones and the best running watches – essential running gear for training and racing.
Anyway, back to how to watch the London Marathon 2022. There are various free options, and if you can't access them the usual way, you can use a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions.
How to follow the London Marathon 2022 from anywhere in the world for free
One of the best (and cheapest) ways to follow the action on the London Marathon 2022 is to download the London Marathon app (Android / Apple). You can follow participants’ progress, keep up-to-date with the Elite Leaderboard and find out results in the app. Get more information about the app here (links to the London Marathon website).
What time does the London Marathon 2022 start?
The London Marathon 2022 takes place on Sunday, 2 October 2022, and the starting times are as follows:
Wheelchair races (Elite): 08:50 AM BST/9:50 AM CEST/3:50 AM ET/00:50 AM PT
Women’s race (Elite): 09:00 AM BST/ 10:00 AM CEST/4:00 AM ET/ 1:00 AM PT
Men's race (Elite) & mass start: 09:40 AM BST/ 10:40 AM CEST/4:40 AM ET/ 1:40 AM PT
The official cut-off time for the London Marathon 2022 is eight hours. A specially recruited group of 50 ‘Tailwalkers’ will move along the entire London Marathon route at an eight-hour pace, starting at the back of the final wave on all three starts: Blue, Green and Red. If you’re unable to maintain this pace, a Tailwalker will drop back, move with you onto the pavement and support and guide you through to the Finish Line at whatever pace you’re able to maintain.
How to watch the London Marathon 2022 in the UK
On Saturday, 1 October 2022, the BBC (links to BBC's London Marathon coverage page) will be screening a special preview programme called 'The London Marathon: My reason to run' from 13:15 to 13:45. Schedule for Sunday 2 October 2022:
BBC One: 09:25 to 14:35 live coverage
BBC Two: 17:20 to 18:20 highlights
Programming will also be available on the iPlayer and behind the Red Button.
How to watch the London Marathon 2022 from anywhere else in the world
If you live anywhere else in the world or are out of the UK on holiday or business, you can still get access to the live stream - simply use the best VPN around to get past those geo-restrictions. A streaming VPN is a very handy thing, as it means you can hop on a server within the US, UK or anywhere else, and it will switch your IP address to make it appear as if you're browsing right from the comfort of your own home.
- VPN - standing for virtual private network - offers security and anonymity as you browse online, using set protocols to encrypt your data and make it unreadable to outsiders.
- As a part of that, you can also switch your IP address, which identifies your location.
- Most VPNs offer a list of locations where their servers are based to join. Connecting to them switches your IP to appear as if you're browsing from that country/city. In turn, you can then access content locked to that country.
- When it comes to finding a VPN, you should make sure you find the best one that's suitable for your chosen device, with VPN providers offering compatibility for a ton of devices, including VPN for Mac and even a range of fairly nifty free VPNs.
- Once you've made the decision for the most suitable VPN for your device and your means for using a VPN, sign-up and install it.
- To live stream Wimbledon 2022, all you need to do is select a UK server from its list of available servers and connect. You'll then be able to hop over those geo-restrictions, with the likes of BBC iPlayer opening its online gates to you.
- We also want to ensure your money is well spent, so we would recommend going for a VPN that offers a risk-free trial. ExpressVPN is one of many providers that has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- New to VPN? Find out how to use a VPN to unblock geo-restrictions
