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London Marathon: Crazy Facts and Figures
Congratulations to all those that completed the London Marathon this weekend – more than 53,000 of you finished the marathon on Sunday! A new record! Over £67 million has been raised so far – the biggest amount ever seen for an annual one-day fundraising event. A new world record!
Below we’ve listed some more crazy facts and figures relating to the London Marathon from previous years – check them out!
Rob the Record Breaker
Before we get to that though, we wanted to give a shout out to our very own Robert Roughley, who is trying to beat a record of his own and run 2400km! That’s over 50 times the length of the London Marathon, and he has just 365 days to do it.
The mission is to raise awareness and support those impacted by testicular cancer. Every year, over 2400 men in the UK are diagnosed with testicular cancer. Rob is running 1km for every man diagnosed each year. He has already covered over 690km and would really appreciate your support along the way. All fundraising will go directly to Baggy Trousers UK, who supported Rob through his testicular cancer journey.
Come on Rob! You got this!
London Marathon Facts and Figures
Where it all started
The first ever London Marathon was started by Chris Brasher (former Olympic champion) and John Disley (former athlete) on 29 March 1981. At that time 7741 people entered the race, with 6255 finishers. Nowhere near the numbers we see today, but still quite impressive considering it was the first one.
Over one billion raised
Since that first marathon, over one billion pounds has been raised for charities across the world. This is why the London Marathon is known as the largest annual fundraising event on the planet.
Record breaking every year
A total of 45 Guinness World Records were broken at the 2023 London Marathon. The results for this year still haven’t been fully collected or published yet, but we all expect more to be broken again in 2024. In fact, the event itself holds a Guiness World Record – for having the most Guinness World Records set in a single marathon!
Fastest marathon wearing wellington boots
One of those records in-particular is whackier than most! Becky Lafford holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest female to run marathon wearing wellington boots. Her time came in at 3:59:57. We’re just impressed she even finished the course – and can only imagine the potential blisters! Ouch!
Oldest participant is 91
At 90 years’ of age in last year’s event, David Picksley proved to the world that age is just a number. Well this year he’s only gone and done it again! At 91, David is a true testament to the meaning of the event, and perhaps proof that the most important number is the one you wear on your chest. Well done David!
Ever Presents
The ‘Ever Presents’ are exactly as they say they are. This is the name of a small group of runners who have participated in every London Marathon since it began back in 1981. There are now less than 10, all of whom entered this year’s event – of course!
270 birthday celebrations
A total of 270 runners celebrated their birthday on Marathon Day! Whether it felt like a celebration at the time or not is another thing, but I bet the drink in the pub afterwards was unbeatable. Happy birthday and congratulations to those 270 (slightly mad) people!
Middle-aged runners dominate
Almost 40,000 people that signed up to this year’s event belong to the 30-49 age group. This is over 50% of the total number of people (65,000) that registered in 2024. More surprisingly, there were more people aged 70-79 registered (509) than there were 18-19 year olds (366). The oldies showing the youngsters how it’s done once again!
Fundraising is easy and a lot of fun
Fundraising events like the London Marathon are extremely important for raising awareness and support for charities across the world, just like Baggy Trousers UK.
We host and organise our own fundraiser events across the year, to help and support those suffering from Testicular Cancer. If you would like to get involved, you’ll be making someone’s journey through testicular cancer more comfortable and supported, as well as funding our awareness campaigns.
This means providing people with the information they need to get an earlier diagnosis, and potentially saving lives. In return, you’ll get that feel-good factor from achieving your goals and making a real difference. We like to do things that are fun, sociable, and creative – based around the activities you’re enthusiastic about.
If you need any further help, advice or just someone to bounce your ideas off, we would love to hear from you! Contact us at info@baggytrousersuk.org.
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Photo by Miguel A Amutio on Unsplash.
