No, of course it’s not over. Never say ever. But that big black iceberg appears to be melting, and the 41^st London Marathon felt like sunshine on a rainy day.

If we could rejoice at the return of the familiar, we could also appreciate something new. Incorporated into a race that involved close on 40,000 runners (along with a similar number competing virtually on other roads and tracks) were the inaugural Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships.

After 150 qualifying races around the globe in the past year, a total of 3,300 entrants from 82 countries were in the running for extra honours yesterday as they competed within male or female age group categories ranging from 40-44 to 80 plus.

Competed is the word. This racing is as serious a business in its way as the elite events, albeit leavened with experience and, very often, humour not usually associated with the sub-2.04 or sub-2.20 brigades.

That mixture of modesty and competitiveness, politeness and quiet determination was amply evident in the press conference preceding the inaugural Age Group World Championships which involved a small group of those due to be involved, ranging in ages from early 50s to mid 80s.

The women’s 70-74 age group promised a particularly close contest between two hugely accomplished performers - Yuko Gordon, Japanese-born but representing Britain, where she has lived since 1998, and Jeannie Rice of the United States.

Gordon finished 34^th in the first women’s Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games at the age of 33, representing Hong Kong and clocking 2hr 46min 12sec.

A year earlier she had run 2:48:51 to finish 35^th at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

There followed a 15-year break from running as she raised a family. And there then followed an irresistible return to running…

"The Olympics was a beautiful memory and a great experience," Gordon said at the press event. "But did I enjoy it? Yes and no, it was a mixed feeling.

"Because it was the Olympics, and there were so many great athletes there, I felt a little bit I didn’t belong. I was still at that time an air hostess. I had got three months unpaid leave to train.

"I worked as hard as I could and I was the fittest of my life in those three months.

"Of course competitiveness is in my nature, so if I do something I want to do my best, the most I can do - that’s the thing.

"The qualification time for the Games was 2hr 45min. Not so great. Now it is 2.26 - that’s very harsh! But back then I was qualified. I probably overtrained in the three months and ran slower than my personal best. But still it was fantastic. I appreciate it more and more the older I get.

"I am Japanese but I did represent Hong Kong in Los Angeles, and the Hong Kong people they really supported me. That was great.

"I retired from those top events and didn’t run until my kids finished their A levels! Six or seven years ago I wanted to run in London. I entered to run but I didn’t get the ballot so I had to go through the good-for-age qualifying."

She was more than good for her age. Earlier this year she ran 3:29:01 in a marathon at Dorney Lake.

But her opponent, sitting alongside her, also had a formidable CV, albeit that she had never reached Olympian heights.

In 2017 Rice set an American record for her age group at the Columbus Marathon, clocking 3:29.14. A year later she ran 3:27:50. And at the 2019 Berlin Marathon she was credited with a time of 3:28:46, with a chip time of 3:24:48.

Neither of the last two marks, however, has been ratified, and the current listed world record on the World Masters Association website is 3:35:29 by German Helga Miketta in Essen in 2013.

Such issues did not seem to be impinging upon Rice as she looked ahead to her London test, however. "It’s going to be a fun race," she said. "I did all these records when Yuko wasn’t running - she was taking her break. But anyway she is back to running and she is very strong. I saw her recent time.

"I started to run when I was 35. Yuko was already running phenomenal times.

"Her best time is 2:30 something so she does have a much better talent, is what I am thinking.

"But I have not stopped running since age of 35 and now I am 73, so I have a lot of mileage in my body, and this is going to be my 124^th marathon. So my body is wearing out but I will still be able to run.

"I’ve been running non stop because by the time I started running my kids were already older, so I didn’t have to stop for pregnancy or didn’t have any excuse. I love running. It is part of my life. I get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee and I go out to run.

"So it’s going to be a good race. I did fall - not from a running injury, I never had a running injury all my life. But I fell during my training run a few months ago and I did hurt my knee, so that’s not an excuse, but it is the only time I had an injury.

"But I saw Yuko’s time and I will be honoured to be second to her. She is an Olympian. and I am just that girl neighbourhood runner!"

As she said the last part, Yuko leant forward in her chair, smiling, but with her head in her hands. Soon she was pointing out that she had tried to break Rice’s record twice this year without succeeding…

It was not hard to determine the familiar scintillations of ambition and, dare one say it, gameswomanship, in all of this.

As things turned out, Rice did not finish second to Gordon, but third, as the former Olympian won in 3:25:30 having gone through halfway in 1:40:51.

Rice had completed the first half a little more swiftly, in 1:39:57, finishing in 3:38:38.

The pair had been split by Britain’s Sharon Smith, who clocked 3:32:24.

Regarding the women’s 70-74 world record – the event organisers refrained from calling it on this occasion as it remains "a grey area" and they are "working towards creating a system to establish some consistency and ensure integrity."

Record or not, it was a phenomenal performance.

Also present at the press event was an 86-year-old south Londoner, Eileen Noble, who was looking forward to running her 20^th London Marathon, having taken up running to keep fit as a 53-year-old.

Asked, inevitably, what was the secret of her astonishing longevity as a runner, she replied: "I don’t really have a secret. It’s just a case of keeping going. I am aware at my age that I can’t take a break because I wouldn’t get back to it, so every time I’ve been ill or injured I have to get back as quickly as possible and keep going.

"I find running so therapeutic - it’s a social activity, I can do it with my friends, we meet up and have coffee afterward, all these things help to make it very enjoyable.

"And it stops you thinking about your age really. Because most of the people I run with obviously are much younger than me. And because of that it tends to make me feel more like their age. It takes away the thoughts of being very old now.

"It’s only occasionally when attention is drawn to my age that I realise just how old I am getting now!

"In my younger days I would aim to run at least five times a week. Now it’s down to four times and on a bad week could be only three times with a long run at the weekend.

"All of which have to be cut down due to the fact that I am so much slower now.

"Obviously I am slowing down all the time, and so what would have been an hour’s run at one time would now take me an hour and a quarter, so I have to reduce the distance so I don’t run for too long.

"Consequently where I would normally have gone up to 20 miles I have had to stop at 18 because 18 takes me longer than 20 would have done 10 years ago.

"But it still keeps me going. It’s better to keep going and go slower than not go at all."

Asked to comment on the response of Dave Bedford, the former world 10,000m record holder and previous race director of the London Marathon, to the question of what was the hardest thing about running - “Getting out of the front door” - Noble responded: "Getting through the front door is the hardest bit actually! 

"Once you get down the road it isn’t so bad. Certainly running with a friend helped me because we would go through the front door together which makes a big difference.

"Now she isn’t running any more so I have to push myself through the front door, which isn’t easy, but I find that once I’ve got out of my own road I feel so much better. Its running down my own road that I find hard."

Sadly an injury prevented Eileen from starting London Marathon number 20.

Asked about the future of the World Age Group Championships, Tim Hadzima, executive director for the Abbott World Marathon Majors, said: "We already have 320 events signed on globally across six continents involving 97 countries that will be a part of it going forward. 

"This is just a beginning and we hope to continue to grow and do more with it and go deeper and deeper with the fields. Really this is just the beginning."

So there are more World Championship chances for Eileen once she’s back up and running - and beyond her own street.