Man was winning London Marathon for short period after sprinting as fast as he could at start

A man who put on the afterburners during the (very) early stages of Sunday's London Marathon was leading the race... for a solid couple of minutes.

Wearing a blue vest, black shorts and yellow socks, keen runner Richard peaked the interest of viewers when he zoomed past some of the world's most talented long distance athletes at Greenwich Park, Blackheath.

In total, more than 40,000 people were involved in the famous 26.2 mile race, including eventual winner Amos Kipruto, who won the men's race after crossing the finish line on The Mall in 2:04:39.

But he got off to a relatively slow start by Richard's incredibly high standards. You can see footage of that scene below.

After he sprinted past the likes of Bashir Abdi, Sisay Lemma and Kenenisa Bekele on Sunday morning, Twitter user Lee Hopper gave an incredible update on Rich's plans.

"I ran with Richard (in blue) last week," he wrote. "He told us he was going to sprint off and lead the London Marathon for a few hundred metres. I thought he was taking the piss but he did it."

The commentary team on BBC, meanwhile, made their own cheeky comment.

“The grand spectacle of thousands coming together in the pursuit of a common goal. Or the ones who look for a little bit of individual glory, like that man at the front there.”

In the women's race, Yalemzerf Yehualaw became the youngest female winner of the London Marathon after recovering from a nasty faceplant.

The 23-year-old, who recorded an impressive time of 2hr 17min 26sec – the third fastest by a woman on the course – smacked her face on the tarmac following a heavy tumble.

But that didn't stop here from achieving an incredible run. “I was heading to a water station so I did not see the bump coming,” she said afterwards.

“It was very painful. I have lost some feeling in my hip, knee and my hand. They are still sore now.”