Dr Charlie Wartnaby, a research associate in the Centre for Atmospheric Science in Prof Alex Archibald's group, has finished the London Marathon for the last 17 years in a row (including the virtual race that replaced the 2020 London Marathon).

He says: “I’m an obsessive marathon athlete, so I’ve done the London Marathon every year since 2010. This time was distinguished I’m afraid by being the first time I have not managed to go under 3 hours, missing it by 1 minute!”

Charlie, whilst a little disappointed to miss that 3-hour margin, still had a great time doing the marathon. Regarding his next marathon, he says: “I’m booked into the Berlin marathon this September, a first for me, which I will take the train to for climate reasons. I’m doing that because I feared I might lose the qualifying sub-3-hour time I currently had, which, as it truns out, I have lost!”

Charlie also keeps a spreadsheet of his marathon times and other general running tips on his personal website: https://www.wartnaby.org/running/

His fastest marathon ever was in York in 2026 with a time of 2:38:30.

Last September, while on holiday in the Lake District, he ran the inaugural Blencathra Marathon, which some colleagues may recognise since his group is part of NCAS (the National Centre for Atmospheric Science), which runs training at the Blencathra Centre.

He adds: “It was a very small event, which I miraculously won (shouldn’t happen at the age of 55!) That involved running up and down the Grafton Centre car park stairs and Castle Hill as ‘mountain’ training”

Charlie made a short video on his YouTube channel of his training in Cambridge for this mountain marathon, which includes some of the most extreme terrain in England.

If you have the running bug, Charlie recommends Parkrun (a 5k run held on  Saturdays all over the world) and notes that running commutes to the office are easier thanks to our excellent showers that are available.