‘Biggest ever’ edition of London Landmarks Half Marathon has raised £11.8mn so far
Melanie May | 8 April 2024 | News
The seventh edition of the London Landmarks Half Marathon has raised £11.8 million so far, bringing the overall total since launch to £50 million.
Official fundraising partner JustGiving helped to raise more than £9mn of this total through participants using its platform.
Overall, 18,866 people took part in yesterday’s (7 April) event, running the 13.1 mile route past London landmarks including Big Ben, St Paul’s, and new for 2024 – the Cheesegrater and Scalpel.
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Race Director for the London Landmarks Half Marathon, Lia Fyles, said:
‘Today’s event has been so special on many levels. Not only have we exceeded £50 million raised for charity which is just huge, but this has been our biggest London Landmarks Half Marathon ever in terms of runners. The atmosphere has been amazing as everyone came together and showed how inclusive running can be. We want as many people as possible, regardless of their background or ability, to be able to experience the magic of being involved in our very special event. Being able to entertain and give back to the runners as they run the course ensures this is a day to remember for all of us. Congratulations to everyone who took part this year, and a massive thank you – every penny raised will make a real difference to the charities supported.”
The amount raised through JustGiving, including Gift Aid, increased by almost £2mn from last year, when just under £7.2mn was raised. The number of charities supported through fundraisers on the platform also increased from 598 to 796.
The fundraising platform also saw the number of fundraising pages created in support of the half marathon increase from 12,700 to 15,700, while the number of donations also increased from 240,600 to 301,650.
Commenting, Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager of JustGiving, said:
“We’re proud to be the official fundraising partner for the London Landmarks Half Marathon. It’s a brilliant event and this year over 15,000 fundraisers have raised a record breaking £9m for nearly 800 charities on JustGiving. Congratulations to everyone who took part in the race and helped to raise such an incredible amount of money for so many important causes.”
The LLHM is organised by Tommy’s and is open to the whole charity sector. Ben Leaman was first across the finish line for the second year running in a time of 1:09:01, garlanded with medals by the Chelsea Pensioners, and running on behalf of F.A.I.R Funding Auto Immune Research. First woman was Kate Moulds with a time of 1:22.05. The fastest wheelchair participant Ryan Baker finished in 2:30:33.
Celebrities including Dermot O’Leary, Gabby Logan, Vicky Pattison and Stephen Mangan, plus actor Bradley Riches and Sidemen star Ethan Payne, were also among the participants, running for their own personal charity causes.
Prior to the first runners crossing the line, the annual London Landmarks Charity Mascot Dash also took place. This saw eight colourful characters compete in a 100m ‘sprint’ down Whitehall past Horse Guards Parade entertaining the crowd as they cheered them on. Dandelion Bear for Aching Arms took take the Charity Cup just pipping Elmer the Elephant for Alzheimer’s Research UK across the line.
LLHM 2025 will take place on Sunday 6 April 2025, and ballot places can be pre-registered for.
- This article was edited on 8 April to include JustGiving.
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.