The 2026 TCS London Marathon on April 26 will draw its usual 50,000-strong field of club runners, charity fundraisers, and elite competitors.
But the celebrity starting list this year is worth reading closely before the gun fires in Greenwich. It includes people who have stood on F1 podiums, sailed to Olympic gold, and ridden Grand National winners. Several of them have never run a marathon before in their lives.
Here’s who’s running — and why their stories matter.
1. Dame Laura Kenny — From the Velodrome to the Start Line
Britain’s most decorated female Olympian has five Olympic gold medals, four world championship titles, and a career that redefined what British cycling could look like. What she doesn’t have, yet, is a marathon finish.
Kenny was set to make her London Marathon debut in 2025, but she was pregnant with her third child and couldn’t run. This year, she’s on the start list for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust — a cause that became personal after she suffered a miscarriage and a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.
She is 33 years old and has no marathon experience. On roads that suit nobody’s strengths, the most naturally gifted British female Olympian of her generation will find out what 26.2 miles feels like on foot.
2. Ore Oduba — Running for Lola
Ore Oduba won Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 with partner Joanne Clifton. It’s what most people know him for. It is not why he’s running London this year.
In April 2025, Oduba’s sister Lola died by suicide. He is running this race in her memory. He has chosen two causes that reflect her life: Black Girls Hike, the walking community that brought Lola joy, and Smartphone Free Childhood, a campaign she cared about.
There are faster runners in this field, and more decorated ones. There is no one running with a heavier reason to finish. Running has long been a tool for processing grief and loss — for Oduba, this one is personal in the most direct way possible.
3. Sebastian Vettel — The Slowest Race of His Career
Sebastian Vettel retired from Formula One at the end of the 2022 season with four world titles, 53 race wins, and the kind of CV that doesn’t usually lead to someone signing up for 26.2 miles through the streets of London.
And yet, here he is. Vettel is running the 2026 TCS London Marathon for the Brain & Spine Foundation and the Grand Prix Trust, which supports people in the motorsport community who have fallen on hard times.
He is 38 years old, and this is his first marathon. He spent years going 200 miles per hour for a living. On April 26, he’ll be covering roughly 26 miles at considerably less than that. Curious what kind of time a four-time world champion runs? Celebrity marathon times are often more impressive than you’d expect.
4. Tony Adams — The Comeback That Keeps Going
Tony Adams won the First Division title with Arsenal as a 17-year-old. He then won again in 1991, then two more Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and a league and cup double as captain. He was named in the PFA Team of the Century. He represented England at three major tournaments.
He also struggled with alcohol addiction for much of his playing career — something he has spoken about openly since his recovery began in 1996. He now chairs The Forward Trust, a charity providing recovery and rehabilitation services.
This is his first London Marathon. He is running for that charity, joining what the organisation calls #TeamForward. Adams is 59 years old. He has been through more than most people fit into several lifetimes. Twenty-six miles is a new challenge, but not the hardest thing on his record.
5. Cynthia Erivo — She’s Done This Before
Most celebrities on this list are first-timers. Cynthia Erivo is not.
The Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning actress — whose role in Wicked reached a global audience in 2024 — ran the London Marathon in 2022 and finished in 3:35:36. That was more than 20 minutes faster than her previous marathon best. It was, by any measure, a serious time.
She’s back on the start line again this year. If she runs anywhere near that 2022 time, she’ll finish ahead of most people in this celebrity field. Want to know how that stacks up against other famous faces? Here’s how fast celebrities actually run marathons.
6. Sir Ben Ainslie — Gold Medals Don’t Count for Miles
Sir Ben Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history, with four gold medals and one silver across five Games from 1996 to 2012. He is also the Patron of the 1851 Trust, an education charity he helped launch to connect young people with sailing and STEM subjects.
The 2026 London Marathon will be his first marathon. He is running for the 1851 Trust.
Ainslie has spent his career in conditions that would end most people. Sailing in Force 8 winds. Racing in the America’s Cup. None of that translates to the roads of London in any direct way. Mile 20 is new territory for everyone — even four-time Olympic gold medallists.
7. AP McCoy — Twenty Titles, Zero Marathons
AP McCoy rode his first winner in 1992. He then won the Champion Jockey title for twenty consecutive years — a sequence that ended in 2015 when he retired with 4,358 career winners, a number so far ahead of anyone else in the sport that it barely registers as a comparison.
He rode in the Grand National nine times, winning on Don’t Push It in 2010. The racing world essentially ran out of things for him to win.
He has never run a marathon. On April 26, he’ll attempt his first, for the Matt Hampson Foundation, which supports young people catastrophically injured in sport. McCoy is 51. He will not find 26.2 miles easy. Nobody does. He’s probably encountered worse.
8. James Norton — Running on Insulin
James Norton has been a type 1 diabetic since he was 22 years old. He is now 40, and this year he is running his first London Marathon for Breakthrough T1D, a leading charity focused on type 1 diabetes research.
Norton is best known for Happy Valley, Grantchester, and House of Guinness. But managing a chronic condition while training for a marathon adds a layer of logistical complexity that most runners on this list don’t face — blood sugar management, insulin adjustments, the unpredictability of how the body responds over 26.2 miles.
He is not the only T1D runner on the start list. Actor Luke MacFarlane is also running for Breakthrough T1D.
9. Harry Judd — Still Chasing the Clock
Harry Judd is the drummer for McFly, which has sold millions of records across a career spanning more than 20 years. He is also, by this point, a serious amateur runner.
At the 2025 London Marathon, he ran 3:15. For context, that puts him well inside the top 20 percent of finishers in a field of 50,000. He has built a reputation for coming back faster each year and shows no sign of stopping.
He returns to London in 2026. Whatever time he runs, it will probably be faster than the last one. If you’re inspired to chase a time like that yourself, here’s everything you need to know about training for a marathon.
10. Sir Alastair Cook — He Keeps Coming Back
Sir Alastair Cook is England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer — 12,472 runs across 161 Tests, including 33 centuries. He retired from international cricket in 2018.
He ran the 2025 London Marathon alongside Sir Andrew Strauss for the Ruth Strauss Foundation, which supports families facing the death of a parent from non-smoking lung cancer. This year, he’s back on the same course for the same cause — this time running alongside his brother.
Cook has now made the marathon a regular fixture in his post-cricket life. He is 41. The mileage, in both cricket and running terms, continues to accumulate.
The Rest of the Field
The celebrity list extends well beyond the headline names. Comedian Fern Brady, diagnosed as autistic in 2021, is running for Autistica. TV presenter Jenni Falconer is running her 11th London Marathon, this time for Marie Curie, which is the race’s official Charity of the Year. Actress Samantha Spiro (Sex Education, Game of Thrones), actor Jack O’Connell (Skins, Sinners), and drag queen Kitty Scott-Claus are all running for Alzheimer’s Research UK. Former Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey, a three-time FA Cup winner, makes his marathon debut for It’s Never You, a charity supporting parents of children with cancer.
Former Olympic cyclists Chris Newton and Dani King are also on the list, as is former tennis professional Laura Robson. Leicester City manager Gary Rowett is running, as is former Manchester United goalkeeper Lee Grant. Comedian John Robins returns for another year, raising money for Stand Together Against Domestic Abuse, and Tilly Ramsay makes her marathon debut for Feeding Britain.
In all, the celebrity field spans five decades of sport, a handful of the biggest stages in British entertainment, and more causes than most fundraising drives see in a year. Last year’s celebrity field was notable too — but 2026 may be the strongest yet.
The 2026 TCS London Marathon takes place on April 26. Want to run it yourself one day? Here’s everything you need to know about entering the London Marathon ballot.
