I've hit the wall so I'll hit the pub: Amazing photos of the first-ever London Marathon Today the big race is a slick affair which raises nearly 50m for charity annually.. but the early days were a different story, as these incredible photos show Every marathon runner hits the wall... but entrants in the first London race, staged in 1981, hit the pub too. Marathon runner leaving a pub in March 1981 after having stopped for a refreshment Daily Mirror These amazing pictures from the Mirror.co.uk archive show a far different race to the slick affair of today, which has raised half a billion for charity in just 30 years. George Douthwaite at walking pace passing a sign saying "Keep Going" Daily Mirror Back on 29 March 1981, entrants competed in ordinary white vests, stopped for a quick pint during their gruelling 26-mile ordeal, and council leader Horace Cutler was at the finish line in full tweeds to greet them as they completed their epic journey. Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen finish the London Marathon together. Horace Culter of the Greater London council one of the men who made this race possible watches on in the background Daily Mirror Runners went past shoddy 1960s estates and WW2 bomb sites - now largely wiped from the face of modern London. People take a break as they run the first London Marathon in 1981 Daily Mirror Celebrities talking part included DJ Jimmy Savile, who died last October, Welsh rugby legend JPR Williams