Chris Finill: London Marathon’s youngest Ever Present
The London Marathon is the biggest marathon in the world. It’s one of the seven World Marathon Majors, and an iconic event that takes place in the British capital.
On April 27th this year, the London Marathon celebrates its 45th edition after its introduction in 1981. It has since amassed a rich history, including a group of athletes called the Ever Presents.
The Ever Presents are a unique group, one that no one can join. These are people who have run every single London Marathon and are an exceptional part of the event’s history. Following the conclusion of the 2024 event, six Ever Presents remain. All of them intend to start in 2025.
In the build-up to marathon day, I sat down with Chris Finill, the youngest of the Ever Presents. With a shared enthusiasm for London and running, we traded stories (his were much more impressive) and enjoyed an afternoon in the company of people who truly understand the ‘running bug’. It became clear to me that his incredible feats have been driven by one simple thing, a love of the sport.
“London has been the backbone of my career,” Chris tells me. “I was an undergraduate at university when I did my first one. It’s been the whole of my running career apart from the very early days. I love that it’s sustained all the way through.”
How did you become an Ever Present?
After naturally gravitating towards longer distances, Chris found his way to his first marathon during a year in America as part of his undergraduate degree.
“I applied to run a fairly small marathon in northern Michigan in May 1979, having recovered from pneumonia.
“I went out and ran it and got the bug if you like. Then I came back to England in the summer and ran the Milton Keynes Marathon in 1979 as well.
“Then the 1981 London Marathon was advertised. I ran for a London club. I was living in London. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Then I ran the first one, and thought, ‘well, that was good, I’ll run the second one.’ And the third one, and so on.”
The London Marathon is notoriously hard to get into. The first edition featured just over 6500 athletes, and it’s only grown, doubling in size when it returned in 1982.
Now, in 2025, over 750,000 people entered the ballot with approximately 56,000 spots up for grabs. So, how do the Ever Presents keep their status?
“The thing is people gripe a bit and say well how does he get in every year? Well, I get in every year because I’ve dedicated my life to it in one sense. I’ve been running competitively since way before the London Marathon started,” Chris explains.
“I got qualification through the Three A’s [athletics governing body, before England Athletics]. I got it every year up until the time it was given to me by virtue of Ever Present status.
“They recognised Ever Present status after its 15th year. This is what London Marathon gave the 42 of us at the time. A rather beautiful medal.”
Chris shows me the medal, neatly sat in a presentation box, commemorating being one of an exclusive 42 athletes. A number that could never grow.
The Ever Present medal is part of a growing collection of London Marathon memorabilia for Chris. Every London Marathon medal, since the very first at the size of a two pence piece, is laid out in front of me. Alongside them are commemorative t-shirts, the Spirit of London Award and plaques acknowledging his achievements. To see them all, frankly, is breathtaking, and highlights the magnitude of Chris’s dedication.
Not just a marathon man
As we discuss the significance of London in Chris’s running journey, we digress to his other exploits.
Not only has he run every London Marathon, but also holds the world record for the most consecutive marathons under three hours (33). He was the first person to complete the 2012 Olympic marathon course, after a select group trialled the route in May 2011.
Not to mention his ultra marathon adventures: the Comrades, the World 100k Championships, and running across North America.
His coast-to-coast journey across North America consisted of 79 days and 3072 miles, ending in New York.
“I think it’s probably my proudest athletics achievement because it just took so much will to actually do it. We were planning it for three years,” he tells me. “It took a lot of motivation, a lot of planning and a lot of determination to actually do it.”
“I suppose half the battle of running across America is just standing on the coast in your running shoes, getting to that stage and having an idea about how you’re going to go about it.”
Bewildered by the thought of such a run, we chat about training for such a monstrous task.
“You just go out there as a fit runner and hope. Your fitness builds up as you progress; use the event itself as a training run.
“You don’t go out and run 40 miles on Saturday and 40 miles on Sunday because you’re going to be running across America in a year’s time. It just doesn’t work like that.
“The general principle is that if you go out there and do something like that, you get weaker and weaker and more and more tired for about 20 days.
“Then if you get through that, you’ll start to improve and get stronger and stronger. That’s more or less what happened to me.”
How did Chris end this phenomenal journey? After completion of his coast-to-coast run, most people would likely take a rest day. Instead, the next morning, Chris lined up for the New York Marathon, completing it in a time of 3:38.34.
London Marathon 2025
As the 2025 edition of the London Marathon fast approaches, Chris’s final preparations are underway.
As in previous years, the Ever Presents have requested the green start and Chris will go through his usual marathon-morning routine.
“The alarm will go off at 7 o’clock in the morning. Then my wife, Julia, will drive me to the start, which is about four miles away.
“Julia drops me near Blackheath station, and I walk from there across to the green start and I will have a plastic sheet with me, and I’ll lie down on that and that maybe fall asleep for half an hour.
“But know that I’ve arrived in plenty of time. The idea is just to get there without any stress at all.”
