# 'Black market' in London Marathon golden bonds

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/04/05/039black-market039-london-marathon-golden-bonds/
- Published: 2005-04-05T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/3087.jpg)

The shortage of London Marathon golden bonds which guarantee places for charity 
runners has led to a ‘black market’ according to Third Sector magazine. One charity
has paid twice the official cost to secure a bond for five runners.
The difficulty
of obtaining golden bond places for fundraising runners at the London Marathon has
prompted some charities to pay over the odds to secure a place for their supporters.

The £1,250 bonds were introduced in 1993, and are capped at 2,400. Since holders
can renew them and the waiting list has been closed at 600 charities, there is almost
no chance of other charities getting a place.

For this reason, charities desperate to get their runners into the event are prepared
to pay more than the going rate to get them. According to Third Sector, the Ataxia-
Telangiecstasia Society paid a larger charity £3,000 for a bond for five runners.
The charity had been doing this “for several years”.

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Phillip Bush, a fundraiser at the Royal Blind Society, has been leading a campaign
among smaller charities to try to get the London Marathon organisers to change or
relax the rules. A joint letter from 39 charities will be sent to the organisers
shortly requesting changes such as an increase in the number of Golden Bonds, ending
the system of carrying forward unused places, and allocating Golden Bonds to charities
which have been on the waiting list for more than six years.

David Bedford, race director, told Third Sector that he regarded the selling on 
of golden bonds as another form of fundraising. “We are proud of the golden bond
scheme,” he said, “which has allowed the marathon to become the biggest annual fundraiser
event in the world.”

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