I wanna run in the Londin Marathon

portchieboy

::)

For some mad reason, I want to do the London.

I have applied, and been rejected 3 times so far, and not got a place in my club draw...Portsmouth Joggers...the best!

The only other option is a charity place, but I would need to raise a staggering £1000+, which when I would be training 5/6 days a week, would be difficult.

I don't suppose there are any kind souls out there who would want to raise funds for me, even if they want to nominate the charity ( so long as I can get a Golden Bond with them, of course)

I am 49, relatively fit,  and never run a marathon before.  It would be nice to do it before I was 50!

Feel free to pm me

Many thanks

e mail address removed

Fionnuala_2

Hello Portchieboy

Yeah, I got turned down too! It might be worth getting in touch with some of the charities to find out how much they want you to raise, and to find out how much help they would give you. They might put you in touch with some of their other runners so you could do joint fund-raising which would make life a lot easier.

Runnersworld.com has a competition for subscribers where the 1st prize is a place in the 2005 marathon - clutching a straws, but somebody is going to win it!

The golden bond places are a bit of a rip off by the way - the charity has to pay something like £250 for each one each year, yet it only costs an ordinary entrant £20 (or so, I've forgotten now!) to enter. Of course the charities do make a lot of money through the actual runners fundraising efforts, but all the same, £250 is an awful lot of money for a person to raise just for the charity to pay out to the organisers. Sorry, gone a bit off topic! I hear it's only a 1 in 10 chance of getting into the marathon anyway, but persevere, if you're unsuccessful for six years in a row then they might give your application more sympathy in the seventh year. Last year a 92 year old did it!!

portchieboy

Thanks, FTS, I think I have put in for every possible competition going!

You are right though about rip off. There are around 40 000 runners. Only 20 000 places are up for grabs, and this year, there were 100 000 applications.

As to the places 'sold', it is crazy cause this was first set up so that ordinary people could train to get fit, charity was a bonus. Besides that, if I run, I will raise money for charity anyway, as would 90% of runners, so there is no need to sell places.

I wish someone would tell them that!

squarecat

do you know anyone who works for Unilever? I think they the ones who sponsor the event. Company employees get the chance to apply for places with better odds.

Nick99

Might be worth a call to:

Lomdon Sports Forum for Disabled People

They have given me a ticket in the past and have in some years found it tough to get rid of all their places!

My information is though about 3-4 years old so dont build up your hopes too much!

Robert_Sterling_3

The London Marathon is run by London Marathon Ltd
The trustees have been able to donate over £14,000,000 to London Charities thus far.
If you want to run 26 miles you can.
If you want to run in The London Marathon you need to "work your passage".
i.e. Become associated with a charity ...
There are plenty to choose from.
It is a bit like an auction.
They may tell you what sort of sponsorship you will need.
You do work of a kind for the charity by persuading people you know to sponser you to run.
Friends and family, work mates, neighbours.
Completing the marathon in an achievement to be proud of as is raising money for charity.

The London Marathon Ltd Re THe Flora Marathon

portchieboy

>:(
Arthur

I presume you are something to do with the Marathon?

Well, let me tell you that if you talk to any dedicated runner, forget 'fun runners', they take my stance. You have in xs of 40,000 runners...eacg pays in xs of £20 to run. That must cover your costs, together with sponsorship etc.

Forget payments to world athletes, that is not the spirit.

If each runner just raised £100 for charity, then this is £4 000 000 EACH YEAR to charity. How long has the marathon been going? And you have only raised £14m?

Speaks for itself, doesnt it.

The marathon was started for ordinary people, and I am sorry, but to run 26 miles, and to have what I consider the stress of having to raise a huge amouny of money is not in that spirit.

Ah well, you will not change.

Good luck.

Keep up the ?good work?

Fionnuala_2

Hey Porchieboy, while you're relieving some stress at the London marathon..let me relieve some too!

I have tried and failed miserably to obtain one or more golden bond places for the charity which I do voluntary work for. I have been in touch with the organisers of the marathon and they tell me that the waiting list for charities to apply for the Golden Bond places is closed until....2008!!! So we can't even get on a waiting list for one of these places. We have 10 or so people who applied for the marathon on a private basis and who wanted to fundraise for us, but none of us got in!

It might also be of interest to you that our charity can't apply for a grant from the marathon - we are neither a London charity nor are we a charity to do with sport (though we do save lives, as if that wasn't important). So despite entrants to the race coming from all over the UK, if not the world, and the event being televised throughout the UK, only London gets any benefit from the money the organisers rake in. I don't know what the marathon people do with the fees charged to Golden Bond runners, but they sure don't share it very well...

The London marathon does seem to be an enormous money spinner now. Is it maybe a victim of its own success? The rules may have been useful when it was revived 20 years ago or whenever it was, but they don't work any more and are backfiring a bit - the way charities are treated is a shambles...those with golden bond places are ripped off, those without don't get a look in. It is a national event now, that happens to be in the capital of England so the benefits should be spread around the country. And as for serious runners - maybe a bit more care needs to be taken of them too.

Let's go to New York, I hear it is so much easier and fairer to get in and it has at least as much prestiege as
London.

FTS.

Robert_Sterling_3

The London Marathon Limited runs the marathon in London.
There are other marathons elsewhere too not run by London Marathon Ltd.
I expect that there are some costs associated with running The London Marathon.