London Marathon Bond Places

portchieboy

Hi

I REALLY want to run in the London Marathon, am 52, and need a major goal. I have tried on 4 previous times to get in, not consecutive, and have applied for 2008.

If I don,t get in, I may consider applying for a Bond place, but am worried by one thing. If you apply, and pledge say £2000, are you held to that figure. I would of course do my best, and get friends to help, but I cannot afford to make up a shortfall.

Any experiences/ideas please?

novelli

Im not too sure what you mean by applying for a bond place, do you mean take up a place offered by a charity (where they usually have a min amount you have to raise), or applying for bond places yourself (as u can only do this as a charity)
Its worth ringing around a few of the charities to see if they have places and how much is the min sponsorhsip. U could also have your name put on their reserve lists in case anyone drops out??

Good luck with it though, its a fab experience.

Savvy_Sue

I don't know about the London marathon, but our charity has bought gold bond places in the Bristol half-marathon, and we ask people to pay us what it costs us to buy them up-front, and anything they raise on top is a bonus.

I would have thought that all charities would have something like that in place: at least an initial payment, even if they are asking you to raise a larger minimum sum in sponsorship.

Poodlecrazy

I ran for a charity last year and was expected to raise the minimum amount that they stated which was £1200. I didn't quite make it and had to make up the shortfall. I think this is quite normal. I also think that if you have applied through the ballot four times and been rejected you are guaranteed to get a place on the fifth year so you may be in anyhow. If you have a ballot place (i.e. not a charity place) I don't think they request a minimum as surely anything you raise is a bonus and the place hasn't cost them anything?

P
x

cmrule

I managed to get a lottery place last year, if not I would have taken a charity place, the charity I ran for was asking for £500 for their bond places which is a little less daunting than the £2000 that some charities ask. I can send you the details of this charity if you wish, send me a message if so.
Good luck with getting in and with all the training.... its so worth it for the buzz on the day!

Former_MSE_Archna

Runners world has a good database of charities you can apply to if you don't have the Flora mag to hand.

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/defaultcharity.asp?v=1

I'm waiting to hear about my bond place somewhere between excitement and intense trepidation!

portchieboy

Thanks all.

CMRULE, I have pmd you for the info, please!

POODLECRAZY the rule seems now to be 5 years, but I missed last year, so even if I apply this year the 5 won't be consecutive! I did phone, and have written to the co-ordinator for a ruling.

Cheers all.

GiveItBack

The only other thing I could recommend is to plan how you'd raise the money - it wouldn't all have to be sponsorship as you could run an event like a race night or something...

good luck either way

greenoak

I am in the same position as the OP.

I sent off my application this week. I ran the 2004 LM on a golden bond and raised over £3500.

There is no way I can tap up friends and family again and the charity I ran for now insist on £1500 yet the bond only costs £250. I know for a fact that they did not even use all their bond places this year and would not put them into the clearing as clearing places have a much lower target as many of these a tiny charaties and its much harder to fund raise for a charity you know very little about ( so they say ).

So do I run for the cheapest place. £500 no problem. - £750 do able £1000 pushing it big time.

Lets hope I get lucky in the lotto and do not have to worry.

GiveItBack

the bond may only cost £250, but there are the associated costs of promoting it, looking after the runners, doing the admin before and after, and most charities want to get back at least 3x what they invest in an event, so it's understandable that they ask for bigger amounts.

benbenandme

I ran for Childline in this years London Marathon, they asked us to raise £1800 each. My total came to £1560 and I did not have to make up the shortfall. I think they are now under the NSPCC charity though. Good luck with your application ... its great fun and a huge personal achievement on two levels - one - raising a huge amount of money for charity - and two - being a part of it on the day ... ENJOY !!!! :beer: