Virgin Money London Marathon launches campaign to celebrate 2021 event
Melanie May | 25 August 2021 | News
The organisers of the 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon have today (25 August) launched a campaign celebrating this year’s return of the event.
On Sunday 3 October, the Virgin Money London Marathon will return to its central London course 889 days after it was last held in April 2019. Up to 50,000 runners will be on the traditional course from Greenwich to The Mall and up to 50,000 participants will complete the 26.2 miles on the course of their choice, anywhere in the world, between 00:00 and 23:59:59 BST.
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SEE ALSO: Virgin Money Giving to close in November 2021 (26 August 2021)
We Run Together celebrates the day, and includes a short film featuring the faces of 55 participants from this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon, with words written and narrated by spoken word artist and rapper John Bernard.
The participants featured in the film will all be running on Sunday 3 October.
Among those included are:
- Key workers including Iona Simpson, a midwife who is running for the children’s charity Tommy’s, plus four Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust workers: Jo Gennari, Linda Machakaire, Jonathan Bird and Bunmi Ogunlesi.
- Claire Nash and Wayne Flanagan, who are running in memory of their 10-day-old baby Jade, who died eight months ago.
- Chris Johnson, a father of three with incurable cancer who is raising money for Children With Cancer UK.
- Members of running groups including Runderbolts, Run Dem Crew, Emancipated Run Crew and Track Mafia.
- Rajinder Singh, the 73-year-old skipping Sikh
- Oldest runners Ken Jones, 88, and Eileen Noble, 87
- London Marathon Charitable Trust 40th anniversary runners, including Mark Underwood and Michael Adamson
- Elite athletes including British stars Charlotte Purdue and David Weir, plus reigning Virgin Money London Marathon elite women’s champion and world record holder Brigid Kosgei
- Macmillan Cancer Support – the 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon Charity of the Year is represented by their runner, Ewen Wilson.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the Virgin Money London Marathon, said:
“Sunday 3 October will be an extraordinary day in our history and our We Run Together campaign captures perfectly how emotional and wonderful it will be.
“Back in 1981, my father Chris Brasher and John Disley created the London Marathon to show how the family of humankind can be united and ‘to have fun and provide some happiness and a sense of achievement in a troubled world.’ This year, that is more important than ever before.
“On Sunday 3 October, wherever people are running their marathon – whether it be on the streets of London, or anywhere else in the world as part of the virtual event – they will do it together. That is what makes the London Marathon so special. We are one family. We Run Together.”
Earlier this month, London Marathon Events announced that next year’s event would take place in October too. The plan is then to return to the traditional April date in 2023.
- Virgin Money Giving to close in November 2021 (26 August 2021)
- Over £250m raised by Virgin Money Giving (19 June 2014)
- Interview with Jo Barnett, Virgin Money Giving’s Managing Director (1 May 2009)
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.