By Nick Butler

Fearnley winning London Marathon 2013July 29 - The London Marathon will host the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Marathon World Cup until at least 2017 after agreeing a four-year extension, it was announced today. 

The news follows the World Cup's debut this April in London when more than 70 athletes - including arm and leg amputees, wheelchair racers and visually impaired athletes - took to the streets of the British capital in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Australian Kurt Fearnley won the men's wheelchair race while United States star Tatyana McFadden, who later won a record six gold medals at last week's IPC World Championships in Lyon, was triumphant in the women's event.

Other winners included Britain's London Paralympic 200m champion Richard Whitehead in the T42 category.

Tatyana McFadden wins London Marathon 2013American Tatyana McFadden won six gold medals at the World Championships in Lyon last week after an earlier victory at the 2013 IPC Marathon World Cup in London 

The announcement marks a further addition to an already busy schedule which, as well as the World Championships, has included Sainsbury's Anniversary Games at London's Olympic Stadium, which had a final day on Sunday (July 28) dedicated purely to the Paralympic disciplines.

Ed Warner, Chairman of the IPC Athletics Sport Technical Committee, welcomed the contract extension as a further boost for the sport.

"Our strategic aim is to give the world's best athletes greater high level competition opportunities ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and this deal helps to provide this for marathon racers," he said.

"We are delighted to agree this deal with the London Marathon, as this year's event was a great success and the feedback from the athletes who took part has been tremendous."

Richard Whithead London Marathon 2013Richard Whitehead added the International Paralympic Committee Marathon World Cup title to the gold medal he had won in the 200 metres at London 2012

Hugh Brasher, race director of the Virgin London Marathon, added: "Following the spectacular performances of IPC athletes in the London Marathon this year, we are naturally very pleased to continue working with the IPC within our event to develop and raise the profile of the Para-athletes in all categories, particularly over the next four years in the run-up to the 2017 World Championships in London.

"We feel that we can continue to work with IPC Athletics to improve standards, ultimately developing the sport of elite marathon running within these classes.

"We strongly believe this is a natural progression from the work we have already done within elite wheelchair marathon racing."

The qualifying criteria for next year's IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup is due to be announced shortly.