EMG/Gravity Media will be providing the BBC with coverage of the London Marathon for the 11th year running on Sunday 27th April.
According to the company, the event is one of the most difficult marathons to cover due to its course through the heavily congested city.
This year, the team will rely on multiple fixed camera sites, two helicopters, and six motorbikes that will send pictures up to a single relay aircraft. The plane needs to be positioned to ensure coverage of the Elite runners and wheelchair racers finishing at Buckingham Palace is maintained while the mass start is still taking place at Blackheath 11km away, said the company.
2025 will see more celebrity runners taking part in the BBC’s coverage as they’re out on the course. The celebs will be met by the EMG/Gravity Media team at badge collection, where they’ll have a special app installed and tested on their phones. The production team can then call the celebs during the race, ask them to launch the app, and interview them as they pound the London streets.
“The London Marathon and the Boat Race are both multi-site OBs, and they’re both sprawling events that wind through London, but in terms of RF they’re covered completely differently,” said Greg Livermore, EMG/Gravity Media’s technical producer for the Boat Race and the London Marathon. “
They show the importance of tailoring RF differently to each and every event, to broadcaster’s requirements, to developments in technology, to the budget available, and to the unique characteristics of the sport and event in question.”
