FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First world record for 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon
The Virgin Money London Marathon, the most popular marathon on the planet,
set a new world record for a third successive year as an incredible 457,861
applicants registered for a ballot place in the 2020 event, which will be
the 40th edition of the race.
The new world record total represents an increase of 10.5 per cent on last
year's previous world record of 414,168 applicants for the 2019 race.
373,736 of the applicants for 2020 were from the UK. This is 25,860 up from
the previous UK applicant record of 347,876 for the 2019 event. A total of
84,125 people applied in the international ballot.
More than 56 per cent of the UK applications for 2020 were from people who
have never run a marathon and just under 48 per cent of the total UK
applicants were women.
"This world record reflects the extraordinary inspirational effect of the
39th London Marathon on 28 April and our social media campaign,
#ThanksaBillion, which celebrated the many runners who have raised over £1
billion for charitable causes since the event started in 1981," said Hugh
Brasher, Event Director for London Marathon Events. "One of our goals is to
inspire people to take up sport and it's fantastic that more than 210,000
people from the UK have been inspired to apply to run a marathon for the
first time in 2020."
"At the first London Marathon back in 1981, fewer than 300 of the 6,300
finishers were women. More than 179,000 women from the UK have applied to
run in 2020 and, for the third successive year, there are more female than
male first-time marathon runners from the UK (54.4 per cent v 45.6 per
cent).
"Our #ThanksaBillion campaign celebrated the extraordinary achievement of
so many runners and supporters of the London Marathon in raising over £1
billion for charity and, through its massive reach on social media, will
have inspired many to apply. The commitment of more than 75 per cent of our
runners to fundraise each year is a part of what makes the London Marathon
unique. No other mass participation event comes anywhere near this kind of
fundraising.
"We were particularly proud to welcome 'Barbara's Revolutionaries', a team
of runners from EastEnders running in honour of their former cast member
Dame Barbara Windsor, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014.
Together with Barbara's husband Scott Mitchell, the eight EastEnders raised
more than £100,000 for the charity of the year, Dementia Revolution. We
were also honoured to feature a commemorative mile marker at Mile 18 in
memory of Stephen Lawrence, celebrating his life and legacy with the
concept 'Because of Stephen we can'.
"The London Marathon continues to have an extraordinary impact that has
inspired profound social change. It is an iconic event, recognised as the
world's greatest marathon, and compels people to take up running and to
raise millions for charity. In addition, The London Marathon Charitable
Trust has enabled thousands more to get active through its funding of a
huge range of recreational projects."
Entrants will be notified of the ballot results in October 2019.
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