A marathon runner gift drawn from the race itself

A London Marathon route print with mile marks, landmarks, the runner name, distance, time and pace

Medals end up in a drawer and race T-shirts end up as pyjamas. A print of the route they actually ran, with the climb and their time underneath, is a gift for a runner that stays on the wall. Our route print draws the line from the file their watch recorded, so it is the course they ran, not a stock map of the event.

Getting the file

The print reads GPX and TCX files. Most runners already have one for every race:

  • Strava: open the activity on the Strava website, click the ⋯ menu under the title and choose Export GPX. The Strava phone app does not export, so use a browser.
  • Garmin, Coros, Polar, Wahoo: the app that came with the watch can export the activity as GPX.
  • Komoot: export the recorded tour as GPX.

FIT files are not read yet, and Strava's bulk account export is a zip of FIT files, so export the single race instead. The file is read on your own device and is not uploaded; only the line is kept with the design.

If it has to be a surprise

Asking a runner for their GPX file tends to give the game away. Two ways round it: ask whoever shares their Strava login or watch app, or start from the London Marathon course, which is built into the page and needs no file at all. For other races without a file, the travel map print can mark the start and finish places instead.

What goes on the sheet

The route sits either alone on the paper (cream, blush, meadow, ink or midnight) or over our own map, framed to the course, with no labels and the roads in three weights. Under the title there is an elevation profile drawn from the file, and a row of numbers: distance, time, pace and climb, in kilometres or miles. Only the numbers the file actually contains are printed, so nothing is made up. Add a title, where and when, and a line of your own: a finishing time, a charity, or "never again" if that is what they said at mile 22.

Not only marathons

The same print works for a first half marathon, a hundredth parkrun, a long ride or a hill walk; our page of gifts for walkers covers long-distance paths and where to find their GPX files, and Christmas gifts for cyclists covers ride files from Strava, Garmin and Wahoo. If they beat their time next year, open the saved design, swap in the new file and order another. For a London runner who would rather wear it, the Love from London design comes on T-shirts and mugs.

It is printed to order in the UK after you approve the artwork; check the delivery estimate on the product page against when you plan to give it.

Start the route print, or see every personalised print.