Record £63.7m raised by 2018 London Marathon

This year’s Virgin Money London Marathon raised a record £63.7 million for charity. The total is more than £2 million over last year’s total, and sets a new world record for an annual single day charity fundraising event for a twelfth successive year. The top fundraising charity in 2018 was Children with Cancer, which raised over £3 million. A number of other charities, including Teenage Cancer Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, Mind, Whizz-Kidz, NSPCC and Cancer Research UK, also raised more than £1 million from the 2018 race. Emily Roff, Senior Sports Events Manager for Children with Cancer, said: "The 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon was a record breaking year for Children with Cancer UK. We raised more than £3 million, making this our single biggest fundraising event, which generates around 20 per cent of our annual income.” This year’s total brings the overall sum raised for charity since the event was founded in 1981 to more than £955 million. The amount raised since Virgin became title sponsor in 2010 is now more than £500 million, with donations to charity linked to the race through Virgin Money Giving having reached more than £170 million. Hugh Brasher, Event Director of Virgin Money London Marathon, said: “Since 1981, the London Marathon has been an extraordinary force for good that has inspired profound social change. We are constantly working to grow the event and its positive impacts as society, health services and charities face ever-increasing pressure on their services and funding. The London Marathon Charitable Trust has enabled hundreds of thousands more people to get active through its funding of a huge range of recreational projects.” The 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon takes place on Sunday 28 April. It has already set a world record for the biggest number of applications for any marathon in the world after 414,168 people applied for a place via the public ballot.   Main image: Thomas Lovelock for Virgin Money London Marathon. Copyright Virgin Money London Marathon

from UK Fundraising https://ift.tt/2QOZg0u