London Marathon: Thousands of Marathoners joined by Astronaut from Space

                                                                            London Marathon by Chris J Wood, CC BY-SA 3.0

Currently taking place in the streets of London where more than 37,000 marathoners are taking part in the race, participants of the London marathon are joined by an astronaut from space, Tim Peake. Similar to his counterparts on earth who will run a distance of 42km, Peake will complete the same distance in space, albeit, in a different manner.

He will be strapped to his treadmill during the race as Peake attempts to be the 2^nd ever person who has completed a Marathon from Space.

Sunday’s inaugural London Marathon started with a 10-second video recorded message from Tim Peake. At the end of his message, the Astronaut initiated a 10-second countdown that signaled the start of the Marathon.

However, as you might expect, running a marathon in space is quite different from doing the same on earth. As Mr. Peake is running in a microgravity area, he is using harnesses to tie him to the treadmill. In the absence of the harnesses, the weightless characteristic of space might result in Peake floating around the spaceship.

Another thing that is differentiating his space Marathon is the sweat factor. Although he will get sweaty similar to his counterparts on earth, the sweat that will be accumulated by him won’t drop down. This is due to the reason that being a gravity-free surface, Space makes the sweat weightless as a result of which it will stick to his skin.

Thus, in addition to providing him with harnesses and other necessary protocols, means of hydration and a towel will also be placed nearby the Astronaut.

Turning our attention back to the London Marathon and the event is proving quite profitable for the organizers. More than 37,000 people have registered themselves for the race and nearly 80 out of them can be classified as elite runners.

Also, according to the statistics that are being published by the British Media outlets, there is an age difference of 70-years between the youngest and oldest runners in the race. Weather could also prove to be crucial as snow is forecasted for the day.

However, according to the MET Office, chances of snowfall disrupting the activities of the day are minimal.