The biggest ever

The 2007 Flora London Marathon was the biggest ever in the 27-year history of the event.

A record 36,396 people started the marathon in Blackheath this morning, the biggest ever field since the London Marathon began in 1981.

This figure is likely to rise very slightly as a number of starters' chips had not yet been counted by Sunday evening.

By 6.45pm 35,674 runners had crossed the finish in the Mall, a London Marathon record by more than 400 people.

The previous biggest London Marathon was in 2005 when 35,557 runners started and 35,256 finished.

As many as 125,000 people originally applied to run in this year's race, the second highest number of applicants ever, and 49,963 applications were accepted. Nearly 37,000 people had registered by 5.00pm on Saturday.