#ThanksABillion campaign launched to celebrate the incredible fundraising achievement.

With three months to go until Eliud Kipchoge and Mo Farah line up on the Virgin Money London Marathon start line, organisers have announced that fundraising from the event has hit £1,000,000,000.

“The London Marathon has set a world record for fundraising for an annual one day event every year since 2007, with an incredible £63.7million raised from the 2018 event,” said Hugh Brasher, London Marathon’s Event Director.

“That brought the total raised since 1981 to more than £955million and on Sunday 28 April 2019, in the 39th London Marathon, we will break the £1,000,000,000 mark.

“This is a phenomenal achievement and part of what makes the London Marathon unique. No other mass participation event comes anywhere near this kind of fundraising. We would like to thank every runner, supporter, donator, charity, volunteer, sponsor, spectator, staff member and everyone else who has contributed to this wonderful total.”

Every year, more than 75 per cent of the 40,000+ runners raise money for charity, and for many charities, the event is the biggest fundraising day of the year.

Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising, said: “We’re delighted to hear that through the incredible efforts of charity runners and their supporters, the London Marathon has reached this remarkable landmark.

“One billion pounds in donations marks just how engaged and committed charity runners are to raising vital funds for the causes they care about. We look forward to a strong future for the London Marathon events as they raise even more funds for charity.”

Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK have joined forces to become Charity of the Year for 2019, creating the Dementia Revolution campaign to raise money for groundbreaking dementia research, aiming to raise £3.5million towards the UK Dementia Research Institute.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) currently holds the record for the highest amount raised by a charity in a single year with £3.6 million raised in 2016, as Charity of the Year.

The 2019 London Marathon will celebrate ‘#ThanksABillion’ with a star-studded elite field that features the five top ranked marathoners from 2018 in both the men’s and women’s races.

In the men’s race, world record holder and three-time London champion Kipchoge lines up against British and European record holder Farah.

The elite women’s field features the winners of the past five Abbott World Marathon Major races including defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot taking on TCS New York City Marathon champion Mary Keitany, who has won London three times.

The latest news on the London Marathon can be found here.

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