On a hot, hazy, mid-may morning we set out whooping and cheering across the start line as if the following 42km were going to be a stroll in the park. Indeed, the whoops and cheers soon dissipated in favour of puffs and pants as the first 5km of the course took us up a constant slope to the foot of the Great Wall.
Hidden above the tourism epicentre that is People’s Square, Kathleen’s 5 looks down on the trees (and up at the giant screens) from atop the fusty Shanghai Art Museum. The signs lead you to a seemingly steam-driven lift, up a flight of stairs and through a couple of old-school corridors before emerging on to the building’s decked rooftop, twinkling bar, chinking glasses and somehow piped-in sensation of exclusivity.
On the sixth floor of the stratified Shanghai-elite incubator that is Bund-3, resides Laris. Head-to-toe in white marble and a killer skyline peeking through the window, it has the appearance (and probably spaciousness) of Jay-Z’s bathroom.
Kebede crossed the line in an unimaginable 2h05 in today's London Marathon.
Pit lane seats opposite the Mclaren garage at a cracking race which included rain on the first lap, 5 tyre changes, queuing Ferraris and a British one-two. All to the sound of 700bhp.