London Marathon Events to provide funding for British endurance athletes in 2019

London Marathon Events Ltd, organisers of the Virgin Money London Marathon and six other iconic mass participation events, will provide a total of £350,000 in funding to support British endurance athletes in 2019. 

£180,000 will be provided to British Athletics towards funding the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) and high altitude training camps for British endurance athletes. A further £70,000 will be allocated to 32 nominated individual athletes not currently supported by the WCPP. £100,000 will support the work of the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre at St Mary’s University in Twickenham.

Hugh Brasher, Event Director of London Marathon Events, said: “One of Chris Brasher and John Disley’s founding principles when they created the London Marathon back in 1981 was to improve the standard of British endurance running - and this commitment remains as strong today.

“We want to see British endurance athletes challenging the very best runners in the world in the very best races in the world – including the Virgin Money London Marathon – and the support we gave Mo Farah through his university days and beyond has shown how our funding programmes can help athletes get closer to this goal. We are proud to do our part to support British endurance athletes and look forward to a future British winner of the world’s most popular marathon.”

Barry Fudge, Head of Endurance at British Athletics, said: “British endurance athletes have proven they’re among the best in the world and it is fantastic to have the support of London Marathon Events Ltd as we strive towards helping these athletes be the best prepared they can be for the biggest competitions. We are delighted to be working in partnership with London Marathon Events Ltd and we look forward to next year’s Virgin Money London Marathon and seeing what British athletes can achieve as we build towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”

It is the first time London Marathon Events has worked with British Athletics to select the nominated individual athletes and the funding is designed to provide a bridge for endurance runners to the WCPP and to improve the standard of British endurance running across all distances.

The athletes were short listed by a panel of British Athletics and London Marathon Events endurance experts, with the final decision made by British Athletics, and range from middle-distance runners to marathon specialists. No athlete currently funded through the British Athletics WCPP is eligible to receive London Marathon Events individual funding.

Among the individuals to receive funding from the new programme are marathon runners Chris Thompson (handicap -6.5), Jonny Mellor (handicap -5.9), Charlotte Purdue (handicap -0.4) and Lily Partridge (handicap -1.8), 2016 Olympians Andy Vernon (handicap -6.6) and Chris O’Hare (handicap -5.9) together with track talent such as Jess Judd (handicap -1.9), Alex Bell (handicap -1.3) and rising star Neil Gourley (handicap -5.8). 

The full list of athletes on the 2019 London Marathon Events/British Athletics funding programme is: