A THIRTY second period of silence was observed before the mass London Marathon race started at 10am this morning (April 21).

And all runners were given a black ribbon to wear in remembrance of those people affected by the bombings in Boston on Monday.

When registration desks at the London Marathon Expo at the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands closed at 5pm yesterday afternoon, a total of 35,079 accepted applicants for places in the race had picked up their running numbers and Ipico Sports Timing tags.

Of these, around 34,500 runners are predicted to cross the finish line in The Mall at the end of the race when the weather is expected to be cool and dry.

Follow all the action from the London Marathon with our live blog.