London Marathon raises record KSh8.5b for charity

Runners at this year’s London Marathon raised KSh8.5 billion for charity, setting a new world record for an annual single day fundraising event for a 12th successive year.

The organisers said the new record was an increase of more than KSh267 million on the previous record total of KSh8.2 billion from 2017.

The total raised for charity since Virgin Money took over as title sponsors of the annual 26.2 mile race in 2010 is now more than KSh66.8 billion.

“We salute every runner who has contributed to this amazing world record total of £63.7 million, a truly incredible sum from a one day event,” event director Hugh Brasher said in a statement on Thursday.

“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.”

Eliud Kipchoge, who broke the world record in Berlin last weekend, took his third London title in April and fellow Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race. The event featured a record 40,273 finishers.

More than 400,000 runners have entered the ballot for next year’s marathon, breaking the event’s own world record for registrations.