The London Marathon: so much more than a race

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/26/london-marathon-charity-big-winner-fundraising-runners

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When Jane Sutton laces up her trainers to run the Virgin Money London Marathon, she will be making good on a promise to her son, Stephen, who died last May, aged 19, after a four-year battle with cancer.

Stephen’s remarkable spirit during his final months, when he drew up a “bucket list” of 46 things he wanted to achieve before he died, captured the heart of the nation and saw more than £5m in donations flood into the Teenage Cancer Trust. “The charity was very close to Stephen’s heart, as it helped him greatly throughout his cancer journey,” Sutton says. “It was the TCT that gave Stephen the confidence to speak so candidly and, at times, bluntly about his cancer.”

Sutton will be joining Paula Radcliffe and more than 36,000 other runners in an event that has broken the Guinness world record for one-day charity fundraising for each of the last eight years. “Hopefully Stephen will be there willing me on and feeling proud of what I’ve achieved,” Sutton says. Around three-quarters of those running in the event, now in its 35th year, will raise money for good causes, generating some £50m for charities, taking the total raised since 1981 to more than £750m.

Today the relationship between mass-participation events like marathons, 10k runs and half-marathons, and fundraising cannot be ignored. But it was not always the case.

The first London marathon raised hardly any money for good causes. But this changed when Joyce Smith, the first woman home in the 1981 event, became an ambassador for Leukaemia Research the next year and, with the help of a campaign launched in the Radio Times, raised more than £1m, a headline-grabbing sum that firmly established the link between running and charitable giving in the minds of the public.

Now no charity can ignore how it can turn big events such as the Great North Run or the Brighton marathon into major fundraising exercises. At the London marathon expo last week it was noticeable that there were more stands for charities than for sportswear manufacturers.

Related: Why we’re running the London Marathon: five charity runners’ tales

Cancer Research UK, this year’s official charity of the London marathon, will have around 2,500 runnners raising a record £2.5m for the new Francis Crick Institute, a world-leading centre of biomedical research. In 2011 the Reverend Steve Chalke raised more than £2.3m for charity, a global marathon fundraising record.

It helps charities that the demand to enter major running events is growing. To bag a place at the marathon, a potential runner often has to pledge to raise sums in excess of £2,000.

“Its popularity means charities can ask for greater fundraising from the person,” concedes Hugh Brasher, race director of the London marathon. “The fact that the ballot sold out in nine hours and 47 minutes, when 125,000 people applied, really helps the charities drive that up.”

Buying a place typically costs charities between £400 and £500. Normally they will buy packages of around seven or eight places for between £5,000 and £20,000, depending on how much advertising space they are allocated on the official marathon website.

Often additional places in, say, the Silverstone half-marathon or the Bupa 10K will be included, allowing the charities to spread their fundraising reach across the year and the country. There is also increased appetite among charities to buy packages that include places in triathlons and races abroad such as the Berlin, Boston and New York marathons.

Related: The Observer view on the London Marathon | Observer editorial

Michael Winehouse, events coordinator at the Children’s Society, which will have more than 80 people running in London, raising some £160,000, says obstacle races are also becoming increasingly popular. “Charities become more and more interesting to consumers when the places on the event’s website are sold out and the only places that are left are held by charities. In events like the Tough Mudder, where you want to run with your friends and the idea is you leave no man behind, people will think ‘I can raise £200 to run with my mates’.”

Some runners grumble that they are being priced out by the large sums they often have to pledge. The Children’s Society, for example, increased its London marathon donation pledge from £1,750, held for the last five years, to £2,000 for 2015. But the charity says the rise was necessary to meet the rising costs of being involved and to raise more funds to help disadvantaged children in the UK.

Brasher argues that the large fundraising targets can be a major motivating factor for many runners. “You’re training through the winter months. It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s wet. It gives you a great fillip as to why you’re going to do it. It’s not just about you running 26.2 miles. There’s all this money resting on you finishing.”

And Winehouse makes the point that the relationship between charity and runner works both ways. “We’re operating at a level where we can serve every one individually. We give them the personal care that they need. They might be 21, straight out of university and don’t know how to raise £2,000. We can say ‘Why don’t you do a car wash or a pub quiz?’ We have that knowledge. We can tailor it for each individual.”

Since the first London marathon the number of charity-sponsored running events across the country has mushroomed. The women-only Cancer Research UK Race for Life events alone have raised more than £500m in the last two decades and attracted 7 million participants. This October the charity will stage the UK’s first women-only marathon in London’s Lea Valley.

“Many of our amazing supporters choose to take on huge physical challenges because they want to honour someone’s memory, show support for a friend or relative who is going through a tough time, or even just to say thank you,” said Helen Jackson, head of sports at Cancer Research UK.

For Jane Sutton, running today is about making a choice. “Losing a child is something no parent should have to go through, but it happens. I have chosen to remain positive, which was the manner in which Stephen chose to live his life. Continuing Stephen’s legacy does help with the grieving process.”