The TCS London Marathon
Thank you for your interest in running in the London Marathon for the Miscarriage Association. This iconic race needs no introduction – it is one of the world’s most famous marathon running events, and is sure to be on every serious runner’s “must complete list”! At 26.219 miles, the race covers a largely flat course focussed around the river Thames, and is broadcast live on BBC TV.
The London Marathon is one of our biggest fundraising events of the year, bringing in over a quarter of our annual funding needs. It makes a huge difference in helping us provide support and information for anyone affected by the loss of a baby in pregnancy, and it also helps to raise awareness of pregnancy loss and how we can help.
Getting a place
There are two main ways of getting a place in the London Marathon – and generally, if you are able to do both, you’ll maximise your chances of taking part in this brilliant event:
Applying for one of our charity places
If you’re interested in applying for April 2024, please visit CRunCH by clicking here, (Charity Runners Clearing House, who manage our places), read through their information about running for charity and click on the Miscarriage Association link in the charity tab.
You’ll see that applying for one of our places means committing to raise a minimum of £1750, so you may want to take some time to think if this is do-able and how you might go about it (we know it’s not always easy). If you’re OK with that, please do complete the application form with as much information as you possibly can, including your thoughts on how you might achieve this target, and note that you found the information on this website. Please be aware that we will not start assessing the applications until Autumn 2023, so it might be some months until you hear from us. If you do decide to apply, it might be worth saving CRunCH’s email address in your safe senders list, to prevent any update going into your spam folders.
Via the ballot
The public ballot for places in 2024 opened on race day (23 April 2023) and closed around a week later. You can find out more about this for future years here. Please note that the public ballot tends to be massively oversubscribed, meaning that entrants have around a 1 in 20 chance of a place.
If you are fortunate enough to get a place through the ballot, or you have a Good for Age, Celebrity or any other place, we’d be delighted to welcome you to join Team M.A. You won’t have the pressure of meeting a specific target, but you will still be a hugely valued and much appreciated member of team M.A!
All of our runners – whether they are ballot place runners or have a Miscarriage Association charity place – have access to our private team Facebook group, a comprehensive pack of fundraising resources including a bespoke technical vest and a supporters T shirt, regular newsletters and updates, fundraising advice, training plans, and a Team What’s App group, along with a warm welcome from our cheer point at the Isle of Dogs on the day.
Please just get in touch with us at fundraising@miscarriageassociation.org.uk and we’ll introduce you to your fellow runners and help support you as you start your London Marathon journey.
Take a look at some stories from previous years
Nicky enjoyed every moment of her Marathon day.
Kate shares what running the 2019 London Marathon meant for her.
Peter describes his wife Jen‘s 2019 London Marathon journey.
For Dan, the run represented moving on, remembering babies lost but also being thankful.