Marathon celebrates silver jubilee

Battling stride for stride on their own at the front with four miles left, Jones, suffering from stomach cramps from a dodgy quiche he'd eaten on the eve of the race, suddenly had this vision of having to take a loo break in front of not just the multitudeslining the route outside the Tower Hotel but also the entire BBC TV audience. "So I turn to Charlie and say: "I've got to go. What am I gonna do, Charlie?" And like a good Geordie, he says 'Stop'." Instead, Jones "sort of scuttled along" while answering nature's call, soon recovered the 100 yards he lost and, feeling suitably relieved, went on to win in a course record 2hr 8min 16sec.

1993: Britain's last stand

We were all looking at the wrong one. Liz McColgan, the Paula Radcliffe of her day, was supposed to be the story but while it went wrong for the Scot, a nation ended up cheering a 34-year-old Basildon car worker, Eamonn Martin. The preparations for his debut had been utterly chaotic with the arrival of his baby, Eamonn junior, during race week. No win could have been more popular - a nine-to-five worker, dad of three and top bloke capping an underappreciated career. It casts even more of a romantic glow these days since in the 11 subsequent races, no British man has had a sniff of repeating the feat amid the relentless charge of the international marathon pro.

2001: Bedford to the rescue

As the security operation surrounding the world's biggest race became an increasing priority, who better to show the lead than the race director himself?

As the great Ethiopian Derartu Tulu was on the finishing straight in sight of a memorable victory in The Mall, two pillocks, for a £300 bet, breached the security cordon to climb over the barrier and ran towards her.

One man was just a few feet from his target, forcing Tulu to take evasive-action, when Bedford bounded from nowhere to grab him and put him in a headlock. "I was gentle with him," Bedford assured us later. "And what about that sprint? It's the best one I've done in 20 years."

Those who remembered his turn of foot in his heyday disagreed. It was the shaggy one's best sprint, period.

2002: The power of Paula

From nearly-woman to national heroine in one unreal run. It wasn't just that Paula Radcliffe, after so many years of near-misses on the track, went out and murdered a world-class field in the second fastest time in history, 2:18:56, which astounded.

It was the way she did it, audaciously dismissing marathon convention for debutants by going for broke after seven miles and just becoming ever stronger as she got lonelier.

Even though she was even faster the following year, with her epic 2:15:25, nothing could top the shock of this initial demonstration of courage allied to athletic brilliance.

2003: Ultimate courage

He was the slowest-ever London Marathon competitor but surely the most courageous. As Michael Watson crossed the line with the clock reading six days, two hours, 27 minutes and six seconds, nobody could fail to be moved by the sight of him dragging his paralysed leg step by agonising step to the finish.

A dozen years before, when the fateful fight with Chris Eubank left one of Britain's finest boxers requiring the first of six life-saving brain operations, there was no chance of him ever walking again.

"Just walking to the end of the road for him is the equivalent of a marathon," said Peter Hamlyn, the oustanding neuro-surgeon who saved his life. Here was miraculous strength of will overcoming immeasurable odds. And here was inspiration for us all."

2004: "I think my workmates think I just jog round the block"

The best thing about the London Marathon is that it's supposed to be the only time an average jogging Joe can line up alongside the top names in their sport.

In reality, of course, they inhabit different worlds. Yet this was the year Tracey Morris seemed to blur the divide. The 36-year-old Leeds optician, who seemed to see herself at the start of the race as little more than a fun runner (although, of course, she was not really a novice), ended it by running into Britain's Olympic team, by finishing as top Briton in 10th place. Her delightful post-race revelations cheered everyone, especially how she'd got training tips from a bloke whose contact lenses she was fitting!