# Charities raised more than £50 million in London Marathon Events virtual offerings last year - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/06/22/charities-raised-more-than-50m-in-london-marathon-events-virtual-offerings-last-year/ - Published: 2021-06-22T08:58:10+01:00 - Author: Melanie May **Virtual events created by London Marathon Events in partnership with other mass participation organisers raised more than £50 million for charities in 2020.** London Marathon Events was only able to deliver [The Vitality Big Half](http://www.thebighalf.co.uk/) on Sunday 1 March as originally planned before the pandemic hit and it had to postpone or cancel the rest of its 2020 event calendar including the [Virgin Money London Marathon](http://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/). However, working with other mass participation organisers, [The 2.6 Challenge](https://www.twopointsixchallenge.co.uk/) was created and delivered in just 22 days, beginning on Sunday 26 April 2020, the date when the Virgin Money London Marathon should have taken place and raising £ 11.2 million for nearly 4,000 charities. ## Advertisement The Virgin Money London Marathon finally took place on Sunday 4 October, with the elite races taking place on a closed-loop course in St James’s Park and 37,966 runners across the UK and round the world running the 26.2 miles on the course of their choice. Participants raised £36.3 million. Festival of cycling, [Prudential RideLondon](https://myridelondon.co.uk/), was also re-imagined as a virtual event with riders raising more than £3 million for the charity of their choice on 15-16 August. A further £1.2 million was raised by runners in The Vitality Big Half on Sunday 1 March and the [virtual Vitality London 10,000](http://www.vitalitylondon10000.co.uk/) during the October half term week. Hugh Brasher, Event Director at London Marathon Events, said: > “We would like to thank every single participant who took part in one of our virtual > events and fundraised for the charity of their choice. Your desire to do something > good at a time of such uncertainty and loss has been a huge inspiration to us > all. >   > “We all hope that we will see the return of the events we love later this year. > We are working hard with our colleagues in the mass participation sports industry > to bring back events and parkrun safely and we believe that the recent Reunion > 5K at Kempton Park, which was part of the government’s Events Research Programme, > was a major step towards that. Exercise and mass participation events across the > UK are so important for the mental and physical health of the nation in addition > to the millions raised for charities.” Jo Barnett, Executive Director at [Virgin Money Giving](https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/) said: > “Whilst we’ve been hugely disappointed to see the delay or cancellation of so > many mass participation events over the last 15 months, the commitment and innovation > shown by London Marathon Events, combined with the determination and hard work > of charities and fundraisers, means that supporters have continued to undertake > all sorts of virtual challenges in aid of the causes that are so important to > them. Since the start of the pandemic Virgin Money Giving has supported a more > diverse range of events than we have ever seen in our 12 years. By tackling the > challenge head on and pivoting with speed and dexterity LME, the charity sector > and fundraisers have been nothing short of inspirational.” * **[40,000 to tackle traditional London Marathon route this Sunday](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/09/28/40000-to-tackle-traditional-london-marathon-route-this-sunday/)**( 28 September 2021) * **[Braille banners to offer support to London Marathon runners this Sunday](https://fundraising.co.uk/2022/09/30/braille-banners-to-offer-support-to-london-marathon-runners-this-sunday/)**( 30 September 2022) * **[JustGiving kickstarts 2023 London Marathon fundraising with £15k donation](https://fundraising.co.uk/2022/10/26/justgiving-kickstarts-2023-london-marathon-fundraising-with-15k-donation/)**( 26 October 2022)