The London Marathon is a pivotal event in the sporting calendar and the city, but it is just as crucial for the charities many of the runners support.
Since the first edition in 1981, those running in the race have raised over £1.3billion for good causes, including a record £73.5million in 2024.
Many of the runners have a personal connection to the charities they are representing and those like Jessica Snell, who is raising money for Mind, are running for a bigger purpose.
Snell, 35, said: “After I lost my friend Lauren, and with struggling from anxiety and depression myself, Minds were a great source of information and advice.
“They have long been a charity close to my heart.
“However, last year, my mental health took a turn for the worse, and I ended up on a long waiting list for therapy.
“I was reaching a crisis point, so my friend got in touch with our local Mind, and I had sessions set up with a wellbeing coach within 24 hours.”
Snell will be among the more than 56,000 runners lining up to tackle the London Marathon’s 26.2-mile course around the city on Sunday 27 April.
While fundraisers are a primary source of money for charities, the London Marathon specifically impacts the funds they have to support those in need the most.
Some taking part are trying to change society as well.
They include Alex Morris, who was motivated by his experience working in the UK construction industry and the staggering figures attached to mental health in that sphere.
The 35-year-old will dress up as Morris the Polar Bear, and chose the London Marathon because people embrace their creativity, dress up and run with props, distinguishing it from all other marathons worldwide.
Morris said: “Traditionally, construction is a male-dominated industry that often doesn’t embrace talking about how people feel.
“I hope to raise awareness of this and what charities like Mind can offer them if they do.”
The money raised by the likes of Snell and Morris goes towards Mind’s support services.
In 2023-24, the charity responded to 122,000 queries on its support and information helpline, while mental health information was accessed 25.3 million times, and 17,285 people signed up for Side by Side, its online peer support community.
Other charities to have benefitted include the Brain Tumour Charity, who Aimi Bell ran the London Marathon for in 2024.
That run marked five years since Bell was diagnosed with a brain tumour, a milestone which was particularly significant because it is the average life expectancy from diagnosis.
She said: “I sort of always have that milestone in my head that I want to get past.
“I just wanted to draw a line past the five years and just be like, ‘Right, I’ve done my survival, I’m living now’, and then it’s just sort of all along the way, just like that.”
Bell raised £16,000 from her run last year and in 2025 she is taking on the London Landmarks challenge for the same cause.
The funds generated went to supporting research, support services, and awareness campaigns to combat brain tumours.
Elsewhere, NSPCC community fundraising manager Chloe Cuthill knows first-hand the impact the charity has.
She serves as a lived experience advocate, which is a person who has experienced child abuse, and is running, to raise funds to support projects such as Childline, Talk Pants, and Speak Out Stay Safe in Schools, which teach children to speak out about abuse.
Cuthill said: “Think running the marathon, and every time I go out, and I do my training, and I’m dying at the end, and it is so difficult.
“I then think about all those children that are going through so much worse than I am right at this particular moment, and it makes me think ‘This is why I’m doing it’.”
Cuthill is running the marathon after volunteering last year.
She said: “At the very end and seeing all the runners come in along the Mall, honestly, it was just the most amazing experience.
“The uplifting emotional part of all these people coming in, I thought ‘I want to do this’.”
Children with Cancer UK’s senior sports and community manager Beccy Rae outlined how funds raised by runners in the London Marathon support research, welfare, and awareness-raising.
The charity has funded over 300 research projects and supported families, and the marathon serves as its biggest fundraising event of the year.
Rae said: “Most people – I think everybody – have been touched by cancer in one way or another.
“A lot of the people we get running for us have had cancer themselves.
“They’ve been through these awful experiences if they’ve had cancer themselves or they’ve seen a parent or a grandparent going through it, and then imagining that as a child is so humbling.
“You can’t even imagine what it would be like as a child going through this.”
James, a father of a six-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy, is a long-term fundraiser for the Children with Cancer charity who has completed a 250-kilometer race through the Sahara and Iceland.
Last year, he ran the London Marathon with an entire army backpack and this year runs with a massive teddy bear on his back to make the race harder, and raise more attention and money for the cause.
James said: “My mum and dad were both diagnosed with cancer in 2018, and they received excellent care and support from the NHS and cancer charities.
“I couldn’t imagine what it’s like for, I knew it was like for them going through it, couldn’t imagine what it was like for my kids to go though.
“I just couldn’t imagine what it’d be like for the kids to go through it, so I thought I’d start trying to raise money for Children with Cancer UK, and that’s where that started.
“I’d just like to be a good role model for the kids and, if I can, support the charity in any way I can.”
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