London Marathon 2022: How to get there and what are the nearest Tube stations?

Thousands of people across the UK will take part in the 2022 London Marathon this weekend.

This will be the last London marathon to take place in the autumn, with the 2023 London marathon reverting back to its usual spring slot, after the disruption of the Covid pandemic.

The marathon takes place on Sunday, October 2, with the professional race kicking off at 8.30am.

The mass participation event sets off an hour later, at 9.30am, with everyone expected to have crossed the starting line by 11am.

Runners will take off from Greenwich, and make their way around central London passing some of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

These will include Big Ben, Tower Bridge and The Tower of London before heading to the finish line at Buckingham Palace.

Where are the start lines?

The course initially begins at three separate locations.

The red start begins in southern Greenwich Park on Charlton Way, the green start is in St John’s Park, and finally, the blue start is on Shooter’s Hill Road.

What are the closest Tube and train stations?

The easiest way to get to the red start is to use Greenwich or Maze Hill stations.

• You can get a train to Maze Hill and Greenwich from London Bridge or Cannon Street
• You will be able to access Greenwich station via the DLR, or via Cutty Sark tube station.

The easiest way to get to the green start is to use Maze Hill station.

The easiest way to get to the blue start is to walk from Blackheath station.

• Trains to Blackheath leave from London Victoria, Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East.

Participants have free travel on Southeastern train services from London stations to the Start, as well as on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Underground and buses.

You must present your running number to a member of staff at the station.

Travel for spectators is not free.

The DLR is running an enhanced service on the day with trains starting earlier at 5am from Tower Gateway and Lewisham and at 7am from Bank and all other DLR routes.

Train strikes

Runners and spectators have been warned to expect travel disruption as train strikes are planned across the weekend of the race.

Services at key London rail companies Southern, Great Northern and Thameslink will start much later on the day of the race, and will be "extremely busy", Govia Thameslink Railway said in a statement on Tuesday.

This follows a full day of planned strike action by ASLEF and the RMT unions on Saturday, October 1, with passengers warned that services will be crowded and to travel "only if absolutely necessary" because of Network Rail strikes.

The company also warned that only those travelling a short distance into London will make it to the starting line on time.