Gordon Ramsay Quitting Mid-Marathon Means We're All Off the Hook

After running the London Marathon ten times in a row prior to this year, this past weekend Gordon Ramsay, the "man who has reduced grown men to the condition of quivering marrow jelly with his insistence that they persevere to the end of the road no matter the pain entailed," dropped out at mile 20 after complaining of a cramp.

Jim White at the Telegraph is personally disappointed in Ramsay's performance, looking to him as a kind of motivator:

Ramsay’s early exit has had one useful side effect: it means we are all off the hook. Next time you are embroiled in your children’s maths homework, or are boiling in frustration over the failure of your new laptop to download some software... you can comfort yourself with this thought: in the same circumstances what would our masterchef do? Well, he’d give up.

Sadly, this is actually the second time Ramsay has dropped out of a major race this year due to injury, after he bailed at mile 15 of the Los Angeles marathon in March. Which is sad, but for some reason we can imagine Ramsay will be back, for he is the sort of man with something to prove.

· London Marathon 2010: The day Gordon Ramsay gave up [Telegraph]