Postponed from its traditional April date, the 40th annual event will be held on a closed-loop circuit round St James’s Park in central London with the iconic finish on The Mall remaining the same as in previous years.

The events, which will also include a wheelchair race, will be held in a secure biosphere as has been the case with other major sporting events such as test cricket and Formula 1.

The elite men’s field features Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia - two of the greatest distance runners in history. Also in the list is Mosinet Geremew of Ethiopia, runner-up last year with a time of 2hr 02min 55sec.

Leading Brits are Chris Thompson and Jonny Mellor, although 2019 British 10,000m Champion Ben Connor is also tipped to perform well in his debut over the 26.2-mile distance.

Ballakilpheric man Lockley has a marathon PB of 2:25.28, recorded in his debut at Frankfurt in 2017. The record by a Manx born runner is 2:23.34 by Dave Cowell at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Pacemakers for the event include Kenyans Noah Kipkemboi, Victor Chumo and Eric Kiptanui, while Sir Mo Farah will be hoping to assist the British runners (Lockley included), looking to achieve the Olympic standard of 2:11.30.