London Marathon 2011 - runners from Ethiopia and Morocco

A beautiful day for the 31st London Marathon and Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede achieved 5th place at 02.07.48 succeeding his title to Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai who outran him at a very fast time of 02.04.40. Responsible Photography were following Ethiopian and Moroccan runners, and of course, the British runners too. Moroccan Jaouad Gharib came in 6th with a time of 2.08.26 followed closely by Abderrahime Bouramdane at 2.08.42 in 7th. Lots of great stories today and congrats to everyone running in London - such a perfect day.

Haile Salassie didn't see his record of 2.03.59 beaten but on a beautiful day in London, Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai crossed the line 1st - at 2.04.40. Seconds off Haile Selassie's record - so close - what a fantastic run.

Mutai kept the lead ,running incredibly well on a glorious sunny day, cheered on by the crowds who enjoyed an exciting fast marathon finish.

Lee Merrien and Andrew Lemoncello were the first Brits home - Merrien achieving a personal best.

Kenyan Mary Keitani ran superbly to cross the line first at 2.19.17 - just inside 2.20. She was well ahead of Shobukhova from Russia who crossed at 2.20.15. A record number of women ran in under 2.30.00 - wow! Jo Pavey became the 7th fastest British woman to run the marathon at a time of 2.8.23 but Ethiopia had 3 women in the top 10. Bezunesh Bekele came in 4th at 02.23.42 closely followed by Atsede Baysa 5th at 02.23.50 and at 02.24.34 Aberu Kebede in 9th place.

In the wheelchair event, GB's David Weir came home 1st for the men while Shelley Woods was just pipped across the line by Tatyana McFadden from the US. David Weir is the most successful wheelchair racer in the history of the London Marathon. On a warm day in London David and Shelley were inspirational and look forward to seeing them at London 2012.

The London Marathon was founded by Chris Brasher and John Disley, and one of it's founding principles is 'To have fun and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world'. The first marathon was run in March 1981 and Responisble Photography Holiday's Gail Ward was working in The Gambia at the time. She remembers waiting for news of her brother's time as he was one of the 7747 runners taking part. Unfortunately Stuart couldn't take up his place this year due to injury but hopes to run next year.

There are amazing stories and inspirational people running today - Responsible Photography send their best wishes and a huge well done to you all.