Biker attempts to beat London marathon record... in traffic

AS BRITISH favourite Mo Farah prepares to challenge the British record at the London Marathon this weekend, an enterprising biker has decided to try it himself – in the thick of London traffic.

On closed roads a man vs machine race would be a bit one-sided, but with the average speed of a fast marathon runner being 12.43mph and the average speed of a motorbike in London traffic being 12.5mph, the result turned out not to be so clear-cut – the biker missing out on the record by a full five minutes.

Using the same BMW F800GS Adventure as is loaned to the marathon organisers, Michael Mann of online community Bike Social followed the route as closely as possible, albeit with a few extra loops where the runners will take advantage of closed one-way streets.

The bike was ahead in the ‘race’ until well after the mid-way point, albeit having stuck steadfastly to the rules of the road and stopped for a few quick pictures.

Incredibly busy traffic and myriad red traffic lights on the home stretch scuppered the attempt, though; the bike coming home in 2 hours 12 minutes. The British record for the course is 2 hours 7 minutes.

During Sunday’s marathon, 15 BMW motorbikes will be used as camera bikes, escort bikes and more. In all, six different models will be used, including the F800GS Adventure.

By Press Association reporter