Here's Ed Balls proudly displaying his London Marathon medal after finishing the race in five hours and 33 minutes. The shadow chancellor, who raised £55,000 for Whizzkids and for Action for Stammering Children, commented:
The crowd was fabulous, the atmosphere was amazing and it was really, really hard. I had a good first 13 miles and a good last 8 miles but the bit in the middle was really, really tough. I almost stopped and wondered if I could do it but the crowd keep you going as do the other racers.
My final time was 5:33 which was fine, pretty much what I should have run on the basis of my training. We have raised £56,000 so far for Whizzkids and for Action for Stammering Children so the time's ok, we raised lots of money
Balls's decision to run the marathon is a good example of why he's seen as one of the more "human" British politicians. His admission that he cries while watching the Antiques Roadshow, his culinary talents and his frankness about coping with his stammer mean he is harder to define as a Brownite bruiser.
