London Marathon Foundation commits £3 million to junior parkrun

Howard Lake | 5 September 2026 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• London marathon
• parkrun
• sport

The London Marathon Foundation is to commit up to £3 million over the next five years to junior parkrun, extending a partnership it says has already helped 370,000 more children take part in the free weekly events since 2023.

The new funding aims to help a further one million children across the UK take part in junior parkrun, the free, weekly 2km events for four to 14 year-olds and their families. It follows Sport England research showing fewer than half of children currently meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.

What the funding will do

• Establish 200 new junior parkrun events, particularly in areas of higher deprivation
  
• Expand the parkrun primary schools programme from around 2,500 to 5,000 schools
  
• Support underserved groups to increase participation

The original three-year partnership, launched in 2023, saw £1.19 million awarded to junior parkrun and led to 120 new events, with weekly finisher numbers up 78%. The Foundation’s events arm, London Marathon Events, also helped connect around 2,500 primary schools to their local junior parkrun through the parkrun primary initiative.

Breaking down barriers to participation

Nick Bitel, chief executive of the London Marathon Foundation, said: “junior parkrun is a fantastic initiative that has been shown to help children feel happier, healthier and more confident. Fun, free and inclusive community activity is essential to supporting the long-term health and wellbeing of the next generation.”

James Thomas, junior parkrun impact and engagement manager, said the commitment would “break down barriers to participation” and help thousands more families experience “the magic of a Sunday morning at junior parkrun”.

Background

The London Marathon Foundation, formerly the London Marathon Charitable Trust, has awarded more than £120 million to 1,800 projects across London and the UK since 1981, funded by profits Gift Aided from London Marathon Events. It announced separately this week that the Daily Mile Foundation has become one of its subsidiaries, in a related but distinct move to consolidate its children’s physical activity funding under one roof.

• Daily Mile joins the London Marathon Foundation (3 September 2026)
  
• London Marathon Foundation raches £100 million funding landmark (18 April 2023)
  
• London Marathon Charitable Trust offers £5 million to help increase people’s fitness (30 October 2018)

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.