London Marathon sets new charitable fundraising record
The 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon raised a record-breaking £59.4 million for charity, setting a new world record for an annual single day charity fundraising event for the tenth successive year.
The total raised was up more than £5 million from the £54.1 million raised in 2015 and takes the total raised since the event was founded in 1981 to more than £830 million.
The 2016 event saw a record number of finishers with 39,140 runners crossing the famous line in the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. Shannon Foudy, a serving police officer from Hemel Hempstead, became the millionth finisher in the history of the event.
Virgin Money Giving is the not-for-profit fundraising partner of the London Marathon, and donations to charity through the online service reached a record £26 million, including gift aid, linked to the 2016 race.
The NSPCC, the Charity of the Year for 2016, raised more than £2million through its team of runners. Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, said: “The NSPCC is delighted to have raised £2 million from this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon. The money raised is going towards the project to transform our Childline service. We can currently only answer 3 out of 4 children who contact us and the money raised by our incredible marathon runners could pay for our trained volunteer counsellors to answer 500,000 children’s calls for help to Childline. Thank you to the Virgin Money London Marathon for giving us this opportunity and to every single one of our runners that helped us to raise such a fantastic amount.”
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the London Marathon, said: “Every year, the Virgin Money London Marathon inspires thousands of runners to take on the challenge of running the famous 26.2 miles and to raise record-breaking millions for charity.
“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 increasing pressure on their services and funding. The London Marathon Charitable Trust has enabled thousands more to get active through its funding of a huge range of recreational projects.”