The London marathon will go ahead as scheduled, with reviews of security procedures surrounding the race to be undertaken. There had been speculation that the race may have been abandoned in reaction to the bombings at yesterday’s Boston marathon, which killed 3 and injured approximately another 130.
The bomb blasts at the Boston marathon went off towards the finish of the course and it appears that most of the injured were spectators, rather than competitors.
London Marathon Chief Executive Nick Bitel told the BBC: "The support we have been offered by our stakeholders and the wider running community has been outstanding. We have the full support of the Metropolitan Police, the Mayor's office and other authorities.
"We want to reassure our runners, spectators, volunteers and everyone connected with the event, that we are doing everything to ensure their safety and that the Virgin London Marathon 2013 is an outstanding success."
Commander of the Metropolitan Police, Christine Jones, also speaking to the BBC, said: "We are working with the London Marathon to make sure we have all the tactics in place that we need.
"We will respond to any information that we receive from partners in both the security environment and the intelligence environment, and we'll make sure that all the tactics we are using are match fit to ensure public safety."
British Sports Minister Hugh Roberts echoed these sentiments in an interview broadcast on the BBC and SKY.
"In security terms, we are as confident as we possibly can be that we can deliver a safe and secure marathon," Robertson said.
"We deliver major events in London, if not quite on a daily basis, on a weekly basis.
"We have enormous experience of doing this, and we have some of the very best professionals anywhere in the world, if not the best professionals in (London's) Metropolitan Police, our security services and our armed forces to do this.
"The best way of dealing with this is to get out on the streets, is to show solidarity with the people in Boston, to celebrate a fantastic marathon and send out a very clear message to those responsible that we won't be cowed by this kind of behaviour."
