RACE first-timer Mary Keitany stormed to a win at the Virgin London Marathon, leading reigning champion Liliya Shobukhova home by over a minute.

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CONGRATULATIONS: Kenya's Mary Keitany (centre) is congratulated by fellow athletes Liliya Shobukhova of Russia and Edna Kiplagat, who completed the top three at the Virgin London Marathon

At Spyns we have been busy in London arranging tours, attractions, hotel suites, and keeping up to date on the latest sporting news. Our tours are going to have clients in Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony, out to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle the next day, being give a VIP private guided tour around London another day, watching the 100m Men’s Freestyle swimming final the following afternoon, eating at Gordon Ramsay’s famous restaurant Maze one evening and being escorted around Buckingham Palace the next. These are some of the activities that we have planned for our London Olympic Tours. If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com. 

Kenyan Keitany held a comfortable position from early in the race, breaking away from the pack at 25km after running in a pack of nine, including Shobukhova, at the halfway mark.

By mile 18, the new half marathon world record holder was leading her chasers by 27 seconds. She continued to extend her advantage, running fast and well throughout the final few miles.

Keitany only had one full marathon under her belt prior to London – that of New York in 2010, where she took third place in a time of two hours, 29 minutes and one second.

Her considerably faster finishing time of two hours 19 minutes and 17 seconds in the London Marathon makes her only the tenth woman to break 2:20, and the fourth fastest woman in marathon running history.

It was an unbelievable race from Keitany, who kept notching up through the gears and sped to an effortlessly fast finish.

Demure, shy, tiny at 5’3” and clutching a small paper Kenyan flag as if for reassurance, her appearance belies her stunning performance that saw her almost floating down the Mall to cross the finish line in a sensational time.

“I know it was only my second marathon – I am so happy to win,” she said.

“The hard training after New York paid off.

“At mile 16, I was confident it was possible. I was not so surprised at my time because I knew the course here was flat and the weather was good – I was confident I could run a better time than my personal best.

“The quality of the field helped me to run that fast because they were so good.”

Runner-up Shobukhova sounded disappointed with her second place finish, despite setting a new Russian national record of two hours, 20 minutes and 15 seconds

“When Mary first attacked, I believed that I would catch her up,” she said.

“The first time, I thought I would let her go because I can catch her, but Mary’s speed was so fast that it didn’t happen.

“Mary has a great speed for a half marathon so I am not surprised she can run so fast

“For me, it was very ambitious and unreal so in the second half of the race when I didn’t see Mary and I could see Edna next to me, I realised I was fighting for second place. 

Third-placed Edna Kiplagat, also a Kenyan, smashed her personal best with a finishing time of two hours, 20 minutes and 46 seconds.

“I tried to run as fast as I could but she was much faster,” she said. 

“So I tried to run a bit faster for the last 200 metres, that’s when Liliya came up with the speed too. 

“I found I was missing the speed but later on I tried to hang on and see if I could beat my personal best.

“I think it’s the best quality field for women that I have run in and the course was a nice one so I was in the right position to chase for my time.”

Kiplagat plans to head to Daegu later in the year, and draw on her London Marathon experience to improve even more.

However, Shobukhova was less willing to commit to racing at Daegu.

She said: “For the first time I can relax today after running, so I’ll decide tomorrow – not today.

Like Shobukhova, Keitany was also reserved about Daegu. But she was happier to talk about a return to London next year.

“Maybe when I go back to training I will see how it goes and then I will come back in London 2012 and try my best to win the gold at the Olympics.”

She may not be one for words, but she can clearly let her feet do the talking.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1.888.825.4720      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. www.spyns.com.

Sochi organizers bring ice rink to London Olympics

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At Spyns we are a Whistler, Canada based company but we offer tours around the world and seem to have one hell of an aviation bill each month. This week we have Ryan King in London checking Hotel suites and Olympic Stadium for the best seats. Next month we have a representative going to Sochi, Russia making plans for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Ice Skating Ring in London Olympic 2012

If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our luxury 4, 5, 7, and 10-Day tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

An ice rink will be installed in front of Marble Arch, the monument at the entrance to Hyde Park.

Sochi organizing committee president Dmitry Chernyshenko said Thursday that visitors to the Sochi World attraction will "come to the winter during the hot summer."

Chernyshenko declined to disclose the cost of renting the prime location, which is traditionally used for ceremonial processions of the royal family and the King's Troop and Royal Horse Artillery.

He says ticket sales will pay for the 1,000-capacity facility, which also will feature a pavilion with cultural activities.

On the rink, Russian figure-skating stars will give master classes for young British skaters.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1.888.825.4720      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. www.spyns.com.

London Olympic Tours - Internatonal Olympic Committee gives Olympic Village the thumbs up

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Olympic Park - ready to 250,000 visitors per-day

We are happy construction going to plan in London. With the Velodrome already completed in February and Olympic Stadium in March, things are looking on track. Spyns is being given a VIP tour of Olympic Stadium this coming week to see where the best seats are for our clients. With over 80,000 to choice from, making sure our clients have great views is a priority. If you would like more information/detailed itineraries on our 4, 5, 7, and 10-Day luxury tours feel free to contact me at henry@london-olympiad.com.

LONDON - The International Olympic Committee has praised the progress in construction of the athletes' village for the 2012 London Games.

The IOC's coordination commission toured the village Thursday on the second day of its latest check on Olympic preparations.

London's Olympic Delivery Authority said work on the first of the 11 residential complexes in the village has been completed.

The ODA says "construction of the remaining residential plots is firmly on track" with completion expected by the end of the year.

IOC coordination commission chairman Denis Oswald says "it is encouraging to see that excellent progress has been made in constructing this accommodation."

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.

London Olympics 2012: £20,000 fine to deter touts as tickets go on sale

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Fine for ticket touts has been increased to
20,000 pounds for the Olympics

If you travel with Spyns (active travel specialists), we have organised Olympic Tickets to your favourite sports sessions, booked luxury suites in the best hotels, and arranged some very special private tours in and about London for our clients. If you would like to join the growing community of happy Spyns clients and see London 2012 in style and with ease, then have a chat with us live at www.london-olympiad.com

More than six million tickets for next year's London Olympic Games go on sale online on Tuesday, when organisers will be crossing their fingers that demand will be sufficient to threaten a website meltdown without actually delivering one.

Ticket sales will be vital to the success of London 2012 if it is to raise the projected £2bn from the private sector required to pay for the staging of the Games. A quarter of the Games's revenue is hoped to be raised through ticket sales alone.

The government has already signalled the importance of Tuesday's release by announcing an increase in the fine for ticket touting from £5,000 to £20,000. The organisers are planning to tackle cyber-crime with a range of measures. "By increasing the fines for touting, we are sending a clear message to criminals and prospective criminals that it is not worth their while and they are not welcome," said the home secretary, Theresa May

Police have taken the unusual step of contacting known ticket touts in advance of sales going live. Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, the national Olympic security co-ordinator, said: "We do not want our Games blighted by touts. My officers are working now to make the Olympics as hostile an environment as possible for them, and increasing the penalty will help by sending a clear warning.

"We have sent out letters to those who may try to illegally sell Olympics tickets to warn them that their card is marked and we are watching."

For the most sought-after events, an automated, random ballot will be used to ensure a fair allocation of tickets. Applicants will be notified whether or not they have been successful by 24 June. Prices will start at £20, with the most expensive seat at the opening ceremony going for £2,012.

Sports enthusiasts are being warned to double-check that they are buying tickets from the official website before they provide their credit and debit card details. The London organising committee bought up hundreds of domain names to try to prevent overseas operators from selling unauthorised tickets. Only the official website, its travel partner Thomas Cook, and hospitality providers Prestige Travel and Jet Set Travel are authorised to sell tickets.

"This is the greatest show on Earth. It is our objective to make sure it doesn't degenerate into the greatest scam on Earth," said Lord Coe, the chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog). "This is a very complex area, but it is our objective to make it as hard as possible for this process to be subverted."

Paul Deighton, Locog's chief executive, said that while there was the possibility of tracking the buyer of every ticket, a "commonsense" approach would be taken to ticket holders distributing them among their family and friends. The six-week sales period should avoid the need for panic, with ticket applications being taken until one minute to midnight on Tuesday 26 April.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720. www.spyns.com.