It has been confirmed that 72-year-old Sir Jim Ratcliffe – co-owner of Manchester United – will be running the London Marathon for the ninth time on SundayManchester United co-owner Sir Jim RatcliffeManchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe(Image: PA)

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe will ignore criticism from last season as he takes part in yet another London Marathon having come close to missing a huge game at Wembley last season.

The billionaire, United head honcho was one of the most recognisable faces in the pack when he crossed the line, facing a race against time to get to Wembley Stadium for United’s FA Cup semi-final clash with Coventry City.

After crossing the finish line in a respectable 4hr and 30 min, he had to rush to watch his team in action against Coventry City, which the Reds won on penalties on route to lifting the trophy under former boss Erik ten Hag.

Despite scraping the win against Championship opposition, a lot of fans were left underwhelmed with several calling for Ten Hag’s scalp – he was fired six months later. It was a good day overall for Ratcliffe though after he shaved two minutes off his previous time and witnessed his team scrape through to the final.

Ratcliffe will ignore the criticism he faced last year to run in what will be his ninth London Marathon. An avid runner, the billionaire has run over 40 marathons in his lifetime.

His involvement in the marathon means the United co-owner will likely miss Ruben Amorim’s side in action against Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon, with kick-off at the Vitality at 2pm.

Speaking about last year’s run to the BBC, shortly after crossing the finish line, Sir Jim said: “At my age that’s probably okay.”

“Jim is a real running fanatic,” legendary marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge told the Daily Mail, who revealed Ratcliffe is taking part in the London Marathon again this weekend.

The United co-owner and Kipchoge are close after Ratcliffe’s Ineos orchestrated the Kenyan’s attempt at running a sub two-hour marathon in 2019 – which he did with a time of 1hr 59min 40sec in Vienna, though it did not count as a world record as it was not run under race conditions.

“I watched all the players in training, so I could see how it was,” Kipchoge recalls after being invited to Old Trafford earlier this season. “I shared my experience of fitness and running, my philosophy and my thinking, because sport is about the heart and the mind.

“They are learning that, slowly, slowly. Soon they will be there. I believe Manchester United will be on fire next season. I support Manchester United now because of the relationship with Jim and Ineos. Now we are a family and we build together for a good football team who can produce holistic footballers.”

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