Distance runner Chris Thompson will be joined on the streets of the capital by his mother Wendy

For once, Chris Thompson’s family will be at the London Marathon. Only they are not coming to the capital to watch him.

The 42-year-old British distance runner will be competing in the event for a fifth time on Sunday. But he will also be joined on the streets of London by his mother Wendy, who is making her marathon debut at the age of 65.

‘All my family are coming in to watch my mum. They have never come in to watch me!’ laughed Thompson. ‘I texted my brother, “Are you coming?” and it was, ‘Oh yeah, we will for this one”.

‘No matter what my result is, we want to go and celebrate what my mum has achieved. Drug testing can take a couple of hours but I should hopefully have everything out of the way and then I can get out on the course and support her as well.

‘I’m excited to see her finish. I did look up the mother-son world record but I don’t think we’ll be close!’

Chris Thompson will not be the only family member running the marathon this year with him mum Wendy joining him in the famous race 

Thompson, who has a marathon personal best of 2hr 10min 52sec, expects his mum to go round in about five hours. Wendy’s previous longest race was the Great South Run 10-mile event in 2018, but she has been inspired by her two-time Olympian son.

‘We were chatting two or three years ago, and she said, “I’d love to run a marathon one day”,’ said Thompson. ‘She kept putting it off but she finally got in.

‘She’s trained harder than me. She has done 3½hr runs. She has been smashing PBs in terms of distances and times.

Thompson (right) will be competing in his fifth London Marathon this weekend in the capital 

‘She’s beaming. She’s so excited. Travelling in with her reminds me of what is great about the event. It takes it back to the roots of why we do it and why the London Marathon is such a special weekend.’

As for his own running, Thompson admits it is ‘crazy’ he is still going at 42. But he is motivated to carry on by the pain of last year, when he was denied competing in his first World Championships because of delays processing his US visa.

‘What happened at Eugene p***** me off to my core,’ he added. ‘Last year fuelled me. I’m viciously stubborn.

‘But I wouldn’t still do it if I didn’t think there were chances I could still make teams, or if I didn’t think I could still be the best Brit. I am one of those people who refuses to give up.’