AN EXHAUSTED Alastair Campbell limped over the London Marathon finish line within his target of four hours yesterday, assisted on his way by President Bush, tubfuls of Vaseline and thoughts of Tony Blair speeches.

“It all went according to plan,” said the Prime Minister’s director of communications whose time was 3 hours, 56 minutes and 3 seconds.

He paid tribute to the crowd who helped him during the difficult moments: “They were unbelievable. You may think this is a kind of response given only by the Iraqi Information Minister but every person was positive. I wasn’t sure I’d make it at the 15-mile and 22-mile marks, but I did it in the end.”

Mr Campbell, 45, raised nearly £300,000 in sponsorship for the Leukaemia Research Fund. One problem on the run was boredom. “To take my mind off it, I thought of my partner, Fiona, my children, John Merritt, my friend who died of the disease, and believe it or not even some of Tony’s speeches.”

After the race, as he hobbled down the Mall with the assistance of his sons Rory, 15, and Calum, 13, Mr Campbell was asked why he had failed to best the marathon time run by President Bush of 3 hours 44 minutes set in Texas in 1993. With a spin-doctor’s eye for the positive, he replied: “At least I beat Zola Budd,” an achievement that, while true, he shared with all 32,745 other competitors following Ms Budd’s withdrawal with low blood-sugar six miles short of the finish line. His partner, Fiona, said that the past few weeks had been tough. “I’m so relieved it’s over. I regret ever suggesting it in the first place. Alastair doesn’t do anything by half measures.”

The 23rd London Marathon was the first since the death of the event’s founding father, Chris Brasher. The race was started by his widow, Shirley.

Mr Campbell’s preparation, which he recorded in a weekly diary for The Times, took place wherever he was accompanying the Prime Minister, including Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, most EU capitals, the open sewers of Dacca and President Putin’s dacha. President Bush donated $100, “which will probably end up on the bathroom wall”.

In his diary he described some of the potential problems, including “jogger’s nipple”, which caused him acute distress in his warm-ups.

“I have never put so much Vaseline on my body in my entire life. I used a whole tub. And just as I thought that I was getting jogger’s nipple, up popped someone from St John’s Ambulance holding out yet another tub of Vaseline.”

Almost 20 minutes ahead of Mr Campbell was Mikulas Dzurinda, the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, the first serving Prime Minister of any country to run the race. Mr Dzurinda beat the 3 hours 42 minutes which it took him to complete the New York marathon in 2001 but came nowhere close to his personal best of 2 hours 32 minutes.

Waving a white and blue Slovak flag as he crossed the line, he said: “It was very good. I am very satisfied and it’s a great race to do because there are so many people in a very good mood. Politics and sport are my joint loves and I am here not only to race but also to show solidarity with Tony Blair, particularly over Iraq.” He is meeting Mr Blair today before flying back today.

Perhaps the most courageous runner was Jane Tomlinson, the first competitor to complete the race while on a course of chemotherapy.

Mrs Tomlinson, 38, a mother of three from Rothwell, Leeds, had cancer in her breast 12 years ago. It has now spread to her lungs and her bones. She said that she was determined to battle through the pain because it could be her last chance to run in the race.

Only a day earlier, she had finished a three-week challenge to cycle from John o’Groats to Land’s End on a tandem bike with her brother.

Her husband Mike, who ran the marathon with her, said: “I’m absolutely amazed that she could even contemplate doing something like this. It’s been astonishing. She only finished the bike ride and had done no training for this at all. After a 1,100-mile ride you can imagine how much it has taken out of her.”

Mrs Tomlinson, who raised about £100,000 for charity, also ran last year’s marathon, and took part in a triathlon and the Great North Run. During her cycling challenge she had to undergo weekly chemotherapy to ease the pain and give her more time.

She said: “You never know what you can achieve if you don’t give it a try and I don’t want to limit my horizons. If that makes me mad, then so be it.” She now plans to spend the time she has left with her husband and children.

Celebrity contestants in the marathon included the chefs Gordon Ramsay and Michel Roux, both of whom crossed the finish line in under four hours.

Their rivalry in the kitchen spilled out afterwards with Mr Roux, who beat his competitor by half an hour with a time of 3 hours 22 minutes, commenting: “I beat Gordon —- but that’s easy enough, Charlie Dimmock beat him last year. I’m sure he’ll do a good time but he’s a big lad to go around.”

Mr Ramsey simply replied: “I’m cooking a big lunch when I get home.” Sir Steve Redgrave, the Olympic rower, was sporting a broken collar bone and so cheered his wife, Lady Ann, from the sidelines. He said: “The atmosphere was so good. I would have loved to have taken part in it. But I plan to take part again in 2005.” About 900 police were stationed along the route and the event was shown on television in 178 countries.

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