Virgin London Marathon ballot for 2010 closes in record time

The Virgin London Marathon 2010 entry ballot has been completed after two days and 16 hours - beating the previous record by over 15 days. In total, over 120,000 runners have been accepted.

After unprecedented demand for places for the 2010 race, the online ballot entry was temporarily closed on Monday 27 April to allow the London Marathon team to add extra website capacity to meet the overwhelming demand.

Race Director David Bedford said: ‘After the success of last Sunday’s race and the beginning of a new dawn with Virgin we were expecting a massive response for next year’s race but even we were surprised by such a fantastic reaction to the opening of the entry ballot.’

Bedford added: ‘As we run a ballot and don’t allocate spaces on a first come first served basis, no-one will be disadvantaged because of the temporary issue on Monday. We do of course apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank people for their patience.’

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Chief Executive of Virgin Money said, ‘We love the fact that the London Marathon is both a massive fundraising event and a world-famous sporting occasion – it’s a national institution. With two course records set in the race, the first from Kurt Fearnely in the elite men’s wheelchair race, and the second from Sammy Wanjiru’s in the elite men’s race, to the thousands of fun runners and fundraisers the London Marathon has no comparison. We’re really excited about being part of the race and plan to help make 2010, the 30th London Marathon and Virgin’s first, the best yet.’

Virgin Money, the financial services division of the Virgin Group will lead the sponsorship with the ambition of supporting the event and the runners in their attempts to raise even greater amounts of money for good causes across the five-year deal. Virgin hope to encourage runners to raise over £¼ billion over the five year term of its sponsorship.1
Despite the ballot for places closing in record time there are other ways to enter for 2010. People wishing to run for a charity dear to their heart may still be able to do so. Many major charities will have a set number of entry places in the Virgin London Marathon each year. They will allocate these places to runners on the basis that they will raise an agreed amount of money for the charity. For more information potential participants should visit www.virginlondonmarathon.com/raising-money.

There are usually more runners interested in running for each charity than there are charity places available, so the charities will select their runners based on the runner's connection with the good cause and how much money they are realistically able to raise for the charity.

The 2010 Virgin London Marathon will take place on Sunday 25th April. For more information go to: www.virginlondonmarathon.com

Virgin London Marathon Press Office:

Nicola Okey: 0207 902 0182; 07799 661345; nicolao@london-marathon.co.uk

Natasha Grainger: 0207 902 0199; natashag@london-marathon.co.uk

Head of Public Relations, Virgin Money :

Scott Mowbray : 07834 843384 ; scott.mowbray@virginmoney.com

About The London Marathon

- The London Marathon was first run in 1981, co-founded by the late Chris Brasher, and current London Marathon Director John Disley, establishing charitable status and with six aims;

1. To improve the overall standard and status of British marathon running by providing a fast course and strong international competition.

2. To show mankind that, on occasions, the Family of Man can be united.

3. To raise money for the provision of recreational facilities in London.

4. To help London tourism.

5. To prove that when it comes to organising major events, "Britain is best".

6. To have fun and provide happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world.

- Over 711,260 finishers have raised, it is estimated, more than £400 million in sponsorship for numerous charities over the years. A record breaking £46.5 million was raised for good causes in the 2007 event, making the London Marathon a Guinness world record holder as the largest single annual fund raising event in the world.

35,306 (subject to ratification) runners finished the London Marathon on Sunday 26 April 2009.

About Virgin Money

- Virgin Money is Virgin's financial services arm and was established in 1995.

- Virgin Money has over two million customers and offers a wide range of financial products across lending (e.g. credit cards and personal loans), savings (e.g. deposits, investments and pensions) and protection (e.g. life assurance, household and car insurance) to the UK market.

For more information, please visit www.virginmoney.com

1About Virgin Money Giving

- One of Virgin's major aims as sponsor of the London Marathon is to help the runners raise more than a quarter of a billion pounds for charity over 5 years. Virgin Money Giving is going to be key in achieving this.

- Virgin Money Giving is a not-for-profit fundraising website, and will be launched this summer by Virgin’s financial services arm Virgin Money. Virgin Money Giving will improve the way donations and Gift Aid are collected and ensure more money reaches the charities it’s intended for.

Virgin Money Giving will launch this summer, ready for runners to use as the official fundraising website for the 2010 Virgin London Marathon.