Last month, London 2012 officially announced that the Olympic marathons will start and finish in front of Buckingham Palace and include three loops of central the capital in a decision that sees the route move away from the Olympic Stadium and the east of the city where its was originally planned to take place.

The race will start on The Mall with a 2.2-mile circuit of St. James' Park before three eight-mile loops past landmarks including Admiralty Arch, Birdcage Walk, St Paul's Cathedral, Leadenhall, Tower Hill and the Houses of Parliament before finishing in The Mall, where the annual London Marathon finishes each April, as first revealed on insidethegames in August.

However, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman has claimed that the decision to take the marathon out of the East End was unlawful revealing that the council has sought the advice of Queen's Counsel and has sent a pre-action letter to London 2012 prior to its application for Judicial Review to quash the decision to reroute the Olympic marathon.

Rahman, said: "We have not taken the decision to seek a Judicial Review lightly.

"However, we feel that there is no alternative option open to us.

"We believe that LOCOG has acted unlawfully in re-routing the Olympic marathon and failed to adhere to the spirit of the original bid which sought to showcase East London, including the East End. "We are the only one of the five Host Boroughs that will not hold an Olympic event.

We're concerned that Tower Hamlets will be little more than a glorified thoroughfare between the City of London and the Olympic Park.

"We have asked LOCOG to do the right thing and bring the marathon back to the East End but they have steadfastly refused to change their position.

"Despite this, we remain wholly committed to supporting the Olympics when they come to London. "

"We want them to be the best Games they can possibly be and we believe in order to achieve this LOCOG must deliver the Games in the way they originally promised."

When London was originally awarded the Games in 2005, Tower Hamlets was set to hold the basketball and walking race as well as the marathon but logistical problems and cost cutting measures have seen the Borough lose out on their Olympic involvement.



Tower Hamlets were notified by London 2012 that the Olympic marathon would no longer start at Tower Bridge and run through the heart of the Borough to finish in the Olympic Stadium as stated in the original Bid document.

So Far more than 1,100 people have signed up to a petition to bring the Olympic marathon back to the East End.

In response to the action taken by Tower Hamlets Council, a London 2012 spokesman told insidethegames: "We proposed moving the start and finish of the London 2012 marathons for operational reason and discussions were held and advice was sought from a range of organisations.

"The development of the Olympic Transport Plan, and evolving sports competition schedule, led to the route change.

"The new route provides a better operational solution without causing a high risk of disruption to the many other sports taking place at the same time in the Olympic Park and across London.

"It was a very tough decision for all the parties involved to take, but we believe it was the right one, and we believe the process undertaken to reach this decision was comprehensive, fair and legal.

"We understand that there has been disappointment in Tower Hamlets and will continue to work with them to develop other opportunities for the borough to be part of the Games."

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