GREENWICH FOOT TUNNEL CENTENARY MARATHON

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel was opened on 4^th August 1902 and was therefore 100 years old this year.

To celebrate this anniversary the 100 Marathon Club organised a one-off marathon run wholly within the tunnel. Using the full length of the tunnel this required 58 laps. The marathon was run between 2am and 8am when the tunnel was least used by pedestrians

As far as we are aware this was the first time a marathon was held in a foot tunnel. A similar style marathon had been held successfully three times in twin road tunnels under the river Elbe in Hamburg. Also two underground marathons have been held in the Brugman-Schacht salt mine in Germany.

The tunnel is 8ft 9in wide with a significant ascent/descent at each end. The marathon included approximately 7 miles of 1 in 15 (6.7%), 2600ft vertical, climb, 7 miles descent and 12 miles on the flat.

100 runners entered the marathon, including 17 from outside the UK.

Germany 9, Poland 3, Italy 2, The Netherlands 1, Ireland 1, South Africa 1.

There were 84 men and 16 women. The profile of the average entrant was:

Age 48 (youngest 25, oldest 69).

Personal best for the marathon 3:24 (fastest 2:09, slowest 4:55), recent best 3:52.

Races of marathon distance or more run (as at date of submission of entry) 124 (least 1, most 723).

Total such races run by participants 12417 (marathons 11103, ultra marathons 1314).

Underground races had been run previously by 4 of the UK and 12 of the overseas participants.

Hugh Jones, one of the UK’s best known marathoners, entered the event.

It is now 20 years since Hugh won the 1982 London Marathon in a PB of 2.09.24.

Hugh won the run in a time of 2.45.40, over 30mins ahead of the second placed runner.

The ladies winner was Barbara Szlachetka from Poland, 11^th overall in a time of 3.38.54.

Of the 100 entrants 93 finished, 3 started but did not finish and 4 did not start.

The 100 Marathon Club is, not surprisingly, a club for those runners who have run 100 or more marathons. There are several 100 Marathon Clubs in Europe as well as in the USA, Australia and Japan.

The tunnel replaced a ferry which had been in existence since 1676.

The tunnel was designed by Sir Alexander R. Binnie, Chief Engineer LCC.

The contractors were Messrs. J Cochrane & Sons. The Resident engineer was William C Copperthwaite.

Construction was begun in 1900. The cost of the tunnel was £127,000.

The tunnel was opened to the public on the 4^th August 1902, bank holiday Monday. It was opened without ceremony as the contractors were still working. The work finished in November.

In 1903, the first full year of operation, 4 million foot passenger journeys were made. By 1906 this rose to over 6 million.

The tunnel is a public highway open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

The tunnel is 1217ft long, centre shaft to centre shaft.

At each end there is a 300+ft descent from the shaft towards the centre with a gradient of 1 in 15 (6.7%).

The top of the tunnel is 53ft below high water, 33ft below low water.

From ground level the Greenwich shaft is 50ft deep, the Isle of Dogs shaft 44ft deep.

The tunnel is made of cast iron segments lined with concrete, faced with 200,000 white glazed tiles.

It has an external diameter of 12ft 9inches, internal diameter 11ft.

The footway, made up of York flag stone slabs, has a width of 8ft 9in. The headway is 9ft 4in at the centre, 7ft 6in at the sides.

Near the Isle of Dogs end the tunnel the tunnel narrows for 50ft, where it had to be lined, to a footway width of just over 5ft.

The shafts have an external diameter of 43ft, internal diameter 39ft.

The staircase is 6ft wide. The well of the staircase is 20ft in diameter.

The lifts were opened in 1904. New lifts, with an 80 person capacity, were installed in 1992 using the original wooden panelling.

The tunnel is ventilated by a tube in the roof utilising electric fans.

Water on the footways is drained by electric pumps and taken to the surface.