FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
London Marathon Foundation reaches £100 million funding milestone
The London Marathon Foundation reaches a funding landmark
ahead of the 2023 TCS London Marathon
The London Marathon Foundation today (Monday 17 April) announced it has
reached the significant landmark of £100 million awarded to projects which
inspire activity across the UK. The "monumental" milestone comes just six
days before the 2023 TCS London Marathon, the 43rd edition of the world's
most popular marathon, on Sunday 23 April.
The charity was created in 1981, just before the first London Marathon, by
Chris Brasher and John Disley, the co-founders of the London Marathon. The
London Marathon Foundation (previously known as the London Marathon
Charitable Trust) currently focuses on funding projects that create
opportunities for more children, young people, marginalised groups and
communities to lead active and healthy lives.
The £100 million of funding since 1981 includes the following:
- 51 playing fields across the UK protected from development in perpetuity
- £7 million towards London 2012 Olympic legacy projects, including funding
the London Marathon Community Track in The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
- Founding the Go! London Fund – the biggest community sports fund in
London aiming to change the lives of young people through physical
activity – in partnership with the Mayor of London and Sport England
which launched in March 2023
- More than £4 million to play projects, including the 2018 refurbishment
of the Greenwich Park Playground, near the TCS London Marathon's famous
Start Line
- Funding the innovation of the Poolpod, which provides disabled people
with safe and dignified access to swimming pools, and installation in 20
pools across the UK
- Funding a huge range of projects across communities in all 32 London
Boroughs and the City of London
- Supporting more than 20 large-scale projects across the UK, including:
- £1 million partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester to get
10,000 more people walking and cycling
- £1 million partnership with the Alliance of Sport to use the power of
sport to improve the health and life outcomes of 11,000 children from
ethnically diverse communities
- £1 million partnership with Activity Alliance to create inclusive
sessions where disabled and non-disabled people can be active together
The London Marathon Foundation is the sole shareholder and parent charity
of London Marathon Events (LME), the organisers of the world-famous TCS
London Marathon, Ford RideLondon, the world's greatest festival of cycling,
The Big Half, the Vitality Westminster Mile and Vitality London 10,000, the
Standard Chartered Great City Race and Swim Serpentine. Every year, after
costs, the surplus made by LME is passed through corporate Gift Aid to the
Foundation.
Catherine Anderson, Executive Director of the London Marathon Foundation,
said: "Our founders Chris Brasher and John Disley were renowned for their
visionary thinking and determination to inspire more people to get active.
Everyone at the London Marathon Foundation and London Marathon Events is
incredibly proud of this landmark moment. The £100 million funding has
reached millions of people in London and across the UK who've been able to
take part in sports and physical activities through projects we've
supported. Over the past four decades, we've helped people of all ages,
abilities and backgrounds - from family afternoons in a playground to dance
classes for people with Parkinson's Disease - lead active and healthy
lives.
"We're excited about the future and directing our funding to where it's
most needed by supporting impactful, innovative projects that will make
physical activity accessible to everyone."
Sir Rodney Walker, Chairperson of the London Marathon Foundation, said:
"We're hugely grateful to everyone at London Marathon Events for all their
work which has enabled the London Marathon Foundation to reach this
monumental milestone.
"We're very proud of what we've achieved with the £100 million we've
awarded to date and we will continue to champion new initiatives supporting
participation and diversity in sports and physical activity for communities
needing the most help to be active."
Nick Bitel, CEO of London Marathon Events, said: "Chris and John's legacy
is extraordinary, and I don't think they ever imagined that the event they
created back in 1981 would have gone on to inspire so many millions to get
active, sowed the seeds for our current portfolio of events and enabled the
London Marathon Foundation to make grants totalling £100 million and
counting. As always, we will be thinking of our founders on Marathon Day
next Sunday."
Earlier this month, the Foundation announced more than £2.4 million had
been awarded to 81 projects through its new Active Spaces Fund. This
funding supports a wide range of projects and activities across London,
from environmentally friendly 'plogging' (combining jogging and litter
picking) to playground improvements, and took the total amount awarded
since 1981 over the £100 million mark.
To read more about the work of the London Marathon Foundation, click here.
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