Runners at this year’s London Marathon are on course to raise a record amount for charities, fundraising platforms have reported.
More than £30m has been donated so far to 18,000 fundraisers on JustGiving ahead of the 26.2-mile race on Sunday, 20% more than this time last year.
Meanwhile, over £20m has been raised through the event’s official fundraising partner Enthuse, a 60% rise on the year before.
Hugh Brasher, event director of the marathon, said: “We are looking forward to a record breaking TCS London Marathon this weekend and we’re expecting a record number of finishers in both the Mini London Marathon on Saturday and more than 50,000 finishers on Sunday.”
Organisers this week reported that last year’s event raised £63m overall for thousands of charities, its largest total since a record £66.4m was raised in 2019.
Money raised for 1,700 charities
A total of £39m was raised by London Marathon participants on JustGiving last year, including gift aid, with £4m donated after the event.
This year, the site has reported that the most common types of charities that people are running for relate to cancer, heart disease, mental health and dementia.
Pascale Harvie, president and general manager of JustGiving, said: “Every year I’m amazed by the commitment shown by thousands of dedicated individuals fundraising for this incredible event.
“An astonishing amount of money has already been raised for almost 1,700 charities on JustGiving and we expect this to continue to rise in the run up to race day.”
Enthuse, meanwhile, reported that over £20m has been raised through its platform, a 60% rise on this time last year.
Chester Mojay-Sinclare, chief executive of Enthuse, said: “One in seven of all donations came through the TCS London Marathon app last year and donations direct through it to participants on the Enthuse platform should be an important part of fundraising on the day.”
£63m raised last year
The 2023 TCS London Marathon raised £63m, up from the £58.3m the previous year’s event raised, organisers revealed this week.
This is the highest total since the £66.4m raised at the last pre-Covid marathon in 2019, which set a world record for an annual single-day charity fundraising event.
Last year’s fundraising brings the total amount the marathon has raised since its launch in 1981 to over £1.2bn.
Brasher said: “It is a phenomenal total and we salute every single person who has contributed to this.”
Charity partners
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, the marathon’s official charity partner for 2023, raised more than £2.7m from last year’s event, shy of the £3.5m it initially hoped to raise.
Liz Tait, the charity’s director of fundraising, said: “I’m so proud that together, our incredible TCS London Marathon runners, partners and supporters raised over £2.7m to help build the new children’s cancer centre, drive transformation in children’s cancer care and help save more lives.”
Samaritans, the suicide prevention charity, is the charity of the year for the 2024 marathon and hopes to raise £1.7m.
Organisers have expanded the virtual version of this year’s event, TCS London Marathon MyWay, by allowing people who take part in it to fundraise for any UK charity for the first time.
The virtual event runs alongside the main in-person London Marathon, on 21 April this year, with participants given the day’s 24 hours to walk, jog or run the 26.2-mile distance.
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