Record number of runners at first Virgin London Marathon
Howard Lake | 26 April 2010 | News
The first Virgin London Marathon saw 36,459 runners leave the starting line, over 1,000 more than started in 2009, so the company is hoping for a record charity fundraising total as well.
Virgin Money, the financial services division of the Virgin Group is leading the London Marathon sponsorship: it is hoping that runners will raise £250 million during the five year sponsorship deal, and is offering its infrastructure, online capability and financial expertise to help achieve that through Virgin Money Giving.
Sir Richard Branson ran the Marathon to raise funds for Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group which works to improve the lives of vulnerable young people in the UK. His son Sam and daughter Holly also took part and broke the world record for the largest number of people joined together to complete the race. The ‘Caterpillar Team’ were raising money for 13 charities including Clic Sargent, Great Ormond Street and Kids Company.
The 2011 Virgin London Marathon will take place on 17 April. The ballot for entries will open on 4 May 2010.
www.virginlondonmarathon.com
Photo: Julian Mason on Flickr.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.