London Marathon – how the Labour MPs performed

MPs running the London Marathon has become a bit of a thing this year. Ed Balls is on his third London Marathon, but this year he was joined by several others. But how did they fare?

Here’s how long the five Labour MPs who ran the marathon took to get round:

1. Dan Jarvis 3hrs 45mins
2. Sadiq Khan 4hrs 19mins
3. Andy Burnham 4hrs 26mins
4. Jamie Reed 4hrs 38mins
5. Ed Balls 4hrs 57mins

Former paratrooper Dan Jarvis was favoured to do well, and he didn’t disappoint, running a hugely impressive time. He smashed the four hour mark and was over 30 minutes quicker than the next Labour MP Sadiq Khan. The “Tooting Tornado” was running his first marathon, so will be pleased with his time. Next up was Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who won the Shadow Health Team battle, beating Jamie Reed by 12 minutes.

Ed Balls isn’t someone who likes to finish at the back of the pack – so he won’t like it to be noted that he finished last out of the MPs competing, but he’ll be pleased to have completed a sub 5 hour run. Having raised over £130,000 for charity in the past three years though, Balls will still be amongst those with the most to smile about today.

The top performing MP wasn’t Labour though – it was Tory MP Alun Cairns, who finished in a highly impressive 3 hrs 34mins. Of course, when it comes to the marathon, it’s not the winning – it’s the taking part and raising loads of money for charity that counts. Congratulations to all of the MPs, and everyone else who took part today.

Rather you than us…