At the 35th race on April 26, it raised an incredible £54.1million for charity, which set a new record for the world’s biggest single-day fundraising event for the ninth successive year. The amount of money raised since the first race is £773million.
The total of 37,675 runners who completed the 26.2-mile course also eclipsed the previous best by almost 1,000, while an estimated 750,000 people lined the streets. In a race that has grown beyond all expectation since it started in 1981, it worked with more than 1,500 official charities this year and 75% of runners were raising money for charity.
Event Director Hugh Brasher says: “We strive to inspire people to run, to raise money for charity and to show the world that when it comes to organising sports events, Britain does it best.
“The combination of our #handinhand celebration of Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen crossing the line together in 1981, together with our #thankyouPaula campaign to celebrate the running career of Paula Radcliffe, meant that we trended #1 worldwide on social media for the first time.”
