The London Marathon returns on Sunday morning, with a host of celebrities set to be put through their paces and run 26.2 miles in aid of charity.
Over the years, several stars have surprised their fans, and often themselves, by achieving the remarkable feat.
This year, the likes of Cynthia Erivo, AJ and Curtis Pritchard and James Norton can be spotted among the crowd. You can read more about that here.
Yet, while there are many who have managed to take on the challenge, there are some celebrities who have regretted signing up for the race.
Some have been outed for cheating, others have been unable to finish and there have also been cases of gruesome medical emergencies on the course.
So who are the stars that ultimately ran out of steam?
Joel Dommett
Joel Dommett bit off more than he could chew when he attempted the London Marathon last year, revealing he woke up in an ambulance after fainting at mile 17
While he may be a gym enthusiast, Joel Dommett bit off more than he could chew with the London Marathon last year, revealing he woke up in an ambulance after fainting at mile 17.
Joel revealed that, despite the scare, he was able to finish the race after being forced to wait a few hours under medical supervision for his pulse to return to normal.
He wrote: ‘Not the race I expected! I fainted at mile 17 – don’t really remember much but I woke up in an ambulance! Thanks to Frankie and Barry for being amazing.
‘I really wanted to finish it. After a few hours my pulse was back and I got going again at a very different pace but really got to soak it all in. Proud of myself for finishing.’
Shortly before, the comedian, 40, took to Instagram with snaps alongside paramedics, just hours after sharing a glimpse of his hectic schedule ahead of the run.
He revealed that his journey to the finish line had actually began 24-hours earlier, when he set off from his house in south-west London, having travelled to Leeds for a comedy show before driving two and a half hours to Cambridge for the night.
Joel had a brief six and a half hours sleep – with the assumption that he slept straight away on arriving in Cambridge – before getting up again at 6.30am on Sunday and leaving his hotel at 6.45am to travel to the Greenwich roundabout.
His schedule, written out precisely on a white board and shared on Instagram, doesn’t end there, as he then undertook a half an hour warm-up run as he made his way to the starting line ahead of the marathon.
He explained he needed to stick to his three hour time in order for son, baby Wilde, to be able to get an afternoon nap in the car ride home.
Joel had then planned on an ice bath and a meal before being picked up at 4.45pm to head to filming.
Yet this plan was scuppered by his impromptu stint with the paramedics.
Katie Price was unable to complete the London Marathon in 2018 and was instead spotted having lunch with her terminally ill mother Amy while others finished the 26.2 mile run
Katie Price
Katie Price was unable to complete the London Marathon in 2018 and was instead spotted having lunch with her terminally ill mother Amy while others finished the 26.2 mile run.
The TV personality, who was raising money for the British Lung Foundation, was forced to quit with a knee injury, and her giant lung costume was later carried to the finish line by police, three hours into the race.
Spectators noticed that Katie, 47, had dropped out early when she was seen having tea with her mother, whose terminal lung illness idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was the motivation for Katie to take part for a second time.
Confirming that Katie had pulled out, Amy shared a congratulatory message in which she defended the star’s decision to pull out and explained how proud she felt for the awareness her daughter had raised for lung conditions.
‘I just wanted to say how proud I am of my daughter Katie for running the London Marathon,’ Amy said. ‘She may not have completed it but she’s raised so much awareness, it’s been worth it for the British Lung Foundation.’
Facing criticism for not training in the lead up to the run, Katie set the record straight by adding: ‘I did train for the run, tried my best in a heavy outfit and if my mummy is proud that’s what matters to me.’
Katie disappeared from the race’s live tracker between 10-15km of the 42km and she reappeared on Instagram Stories at 6pm, eating an ice cream with ‘family’.
The star was reportedly heard telling the crowds: ‘I can’t. I want to stop now.’ She had been on course to finish the course at 6:44pm, had she maintained her walking pace.
One fan even claimed to have seen Katie enjoying afternoon tea, while others, including Chris Evans and Rochelle Humes, were still yet to complete.
Georgia Harrison
Georgia Harrison completed the London Marathon in exactly four hours back in 2019 but it wasn’t without controversy
Georgia Harrison completed the London Marathon in exactly four hours back in 2019, but it wasn’t without controversy.
After admitting to ‘not training very much’ she was hit by cheating accusations from fans, which were quickly shut down by her representatives.
The Daily Mail also revealed that the TV personality tore her left buttock just ten miles into the 26.3 mile race, but didn’t realise what the pain in her backside was until she visited a physiotherapist the next day.
A source said: ‘Georgia was about ten miles in to the London Marathon race on Sunday when she felt a pull in her bottom.
‘The pain got worse as she continued on and finished the marathon in exactly four hours. However, after the race her left butt cheek was swollen and really red.
‘She went to see her physiotherapist today and discovered she had an acute tear on her gluteus maximus.
‘The physio said he’s amazed she was able to finish the race with that sort of injury.’
Georgia, 31, told her Instagram followers afterwards: ‘My legs and knees are killing me. I need a couple of days to recover but it’s definitely, definitely worth it.
Addressing the requests for advice on training for next year’s marathon, Georgia admitted: ‘Hate to break it to you guys, but I ain’t the girl to ask. I have been drunk for the majority of this month.
‘I didn’t really do enough training. I done [sic] one long run, but literally I got in at three in the morning the night before that. Don’t ask me about training programs and stuff, because I really didn’t do much.’
Natasha Argent
In 2016, Natasha Argent was forced to hand back her medal after being investigated by London Marathon officials when she finished the 26.2mile run in under four hours
In 2016, Natasha Argent was forced to hand back her medal after being investigated by London Marathon officials when she finished the 26.2mile run in under four hours.
Figures showed she raced through the final 20km in 48 minutes – and missed 11 of the 24 checkpoints along the route, after taking a detour that landed her in the centre of a cheating scandal.
Event organisers later confirmed she had returned her finisher’s medal and would be banned from taking part in any future London Marathon events.
Natasha – who is the sister of TOWIE star James Argent – hit back at accusations that she deliberately cheated during the race, insisting a panic attack was to blame for her leaving the course.
In an interview with OK! Magazine, Natasha said she went off course while she calmed down and later rejoined the runners on the final leg of the route in her confusion.
She said: ‘I kept running for probably a mile and then went over to a marshall. I told him I had gone wrong and asked him to get me back to the place I should be, as I knew I hadn’t seen my parents who were waiting at Canary Wharf. I was genuinely lost.’
Natasha said the official told her there was ‘no way’ she could go back.
She added: ‘People were cheering me on and I felt like I didn’t deserve the cheers. It was just awful,’ and tell us: ‘I’m really sorry if I have hurt anyone.’
Times for the Virgin Money London Marathon were posted on its official website, meaning that fans who had taken an interest in Natasha’s race were able to stumble upon the strange statistics.
They revealed that she had finished the course in just under four hours. However, photographs showed Miss Argent struggling to lift her feet as she plodded down the Mall.
The race data also showed she completed the final 20km in under an hour, meaning she must have averaged sub four-minute miles – an incredible pace that is quicker than even Mo Farah’s.
She also appeared to have missed a number of electronic checkpoints, raising questions over the route she had taken.
The discrepancies were pointed out by a handful of eagle-eyed social media users and soon took hold online, with dozens of users making accusations of cheating.
Mo Farah
Even professional long-distance runner Mo Farah has faced criticism after he made a series of blunders during the 2018 London Marathon
Even professional long-distance runner Mo Farah has faced criticism after he made a series of blunders during the 2018 London Marathon, when picking up his water bottles during the race proved strangely problematic.
After 28 minutes, at the 10km drinks station, he missed his drink and picked up the wrong bottle, which he quickly threw away after realising it was not his.
He was then seen shouting at the marshals on motorbikes a few minutes later, before speaking to another one just a short way down the road.
After 57 minutes, at the 20km drinks station, Mo lost five seconds stopping and running back to get his bottle after getting confused again.
When quizzed about the incident later he appeared to blame the volunteers for not helping him.
He said: ‘The drink station was confusing. I was table four, I went to pick it up. The staff were helpful at the end but at the beginning they were trying to take a picture rather than giving me the drink.
‘I was saying to the people on motorbikes to tell the staff to be a bit helpful instead of taking pictures. I wasn’t wasting energy, I just needed a drink. I had to get it right.’
Mo’s drinks bottles contained a special carbohydrates and salt mixture from the sports drink company Maurten, his coach Gary Lough told Daily Mail.
Romesh Ranganathan
Eyebrows were raised when Romesh Ranganathan revealed it took him a staggering six-and-a-half hours to finish the marathon in 2024, more than two hours longer than average
While he was able to finish the London Marathon, eyebrows were raised when Romesh Ranganathan revealed it took him a staggering six-and-a-half hours to finish the marathon in 2024.
Explaining why it took him two and half hours longer than the average time, the comedian, 48, blamed ‘drinking too much water’, the lengthy queues for the toilet, and a previous bad experience making him spiral.
Speaking to Runners World, Romesh confessed: ‘I didn’t know anything about fuelling – I’d only ever run 10K, and you can run 10K on nothing, which is what I was doing.
‘But on this 16km run in Ipswich, I hit the wall. I was in the middle of nowhere, on the outskirts of Ipswich and I couldn’t run any further. I had to get an Uber back to the hotel!
‘It gave me the fear so badly that, by the time I did the London Marathon, I was so scared of hitting the wall again that I ran really within myself.
‘I was fuelling as much as I could, drinking at every water station. I did it in six and a half hours, which is pretty much walking pace.
‘But in my defence, I was doing lots of selfies and didn’t realise how long the queues for the toilets were.’
Despite his bad experience, Romesh returned for the 2025 Marathon with the aim of a ‘sub-five’ time.
While he didn’t quite manage that, he did shave half an hour of his previous time, completing the race in six hours.
He opted not to sign up for a third attempt this year.
