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Original poster

To think someone else could’ve made better use of this Marathon place?

95 replies

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 21/04/2018 20:21

its obviously really difficult to get a place in the Marathon... a record amount of people applied for the ballot and after that you have to try and get a charity place and pledge to raise X amount for them. My DH is running for a charity and we have worked really hard to raise the required money, having a raffle, quiz, auction, getting sponsors and match funding by his company means that he has raised over 5k so far (without the matching). I know a few others running and they’ve done all sorts to raise the money for their charities and really worked at it.

I saw Katie Price post earlier that she was running for the British Lung foundation, and nosily clicked her link to see how much she’d raised... having a celebrity run for you must be amazing, they have such a platform and can attract massive donors.

She had made £500. Now, that’s a lot of money to me! But it seems she only very recently made her page and publicised it... it makes me feel annoyed for the people I know who would’ve loved a place and raised far far more.

I’m sure she will raise more (by tomorrow!), but to give the charity the best chance of money they need, surely posting this more than a couple of days before the Marathon should have been a prerequisite?

Just annoyed me. I’m probably being unreasonable! Grin

OP posts:
M0reGinPlease · 22/04/2018 21:42

Celebs don't take up 'normal' places. London Mara allocates so many places to VIPS/Celebs/High Profile runners, so they're not necessarily taking up places that ordinary folk could have got in the ballot iyswim.

OnPointToday · 22/04/2018 21:44

I would LOVE to do the London marathon.

I don’t have a big network of people I could ask to donate and I feel uncomfortable asking people to fund something that is a dream of mine. While raising money for charity is worthwhile I’d be doing it for a selfish reason. There is no way I could raise the amount required; I work for a very small business and a small social circle and family.

I am a regular runner, I’ve done numerous other races, I own how hard it is to train for and run a marathon because I’ve done it.

In nine years of entering the ballot every year I’ve not got a place. I know people who got in this year who aren’t runners and one who didn’t even try and train for it despite getting in.

So yes, this and every other space that wasn’t treated seriously was wasted.

BerylStreep · 22/04/2018 21:46

She's 39 Shock. I'm sure she used to be three years younger than me, and I'm 48 now. How does that happen?

PattiStanger · 22/04/2018 21:46

I very much doubt that KP took a place away from anyone else even if she was an official entrant she wouldn't be there using a place that a member of the public could have.

Popbitch might need to check their facts, according to the local newspaper KP cancelled the PA in Yorkshire

OnPointToday · 22/04/2018 21:46

M0regin - no but they reduce the number of ballot spaces available - there is a set number who can be accommodated and the ballot spaces are what’s left after good for age, competitive, charity, celebratrity etc spaces are accounted for. They do base it on there being a certain percentage of no shows though as far as I understand.

BewareOfDragons · 22/04/2018 21:47

Personally, I’m tired of all the charity runners, it’s their poor friends, families and colleagues who fork out for the sponsor money.

Me, too. Running is their hobby, not mine. Their charity choices are their charity choices, not necessarily mine. They should donate their own money if they want to, not keep 'asking' everyone to fund their own charity running so they can run with their friends, collect medals and accept praise for being charitable with other people's money.

Galling.

I donate to charities I like quietly. I don't tell the world about it. And I fund my own hobbies.

suzy2b · 22/04/2018 21:47

I couldn't run 5 so for her to do 10 with no training i think is quite good I think she finished or almost finished a half marathon a few years ago

Roussette · 22/04/2018 21:48

OnPoint I feel for you, I know how much my DD wanted to do it and she has applied lots in the ballot too. The charity she wanted to run for (it's very close to us) was full so she did apply to another one. It was a lot of money to raise, but apart from a few work people donating and rellies etc (not many and not much), she held things instead.

A pool tournament with a raffle. A pie night (she made the pies!) A quiz night. It was touch and go and it was only a week ago she made her target.
I really hope you can fulfil your dream of running.

Roussette · 22/04/2018 21:53

suzy She stopped for an icecream before she was even halfway! You shouldn't go in for the London Marathon if you don't train to do your best to complete it!
If she, with all her fame, can only raise £500 she really is not trying. I bet the charity are embarrassed.

Namastethefuckawayfromme · 22/04/2018 21:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StopBeingNosey · 22/04/2018 21:58

Gertie I get that it’s giving to charity. I already give to charities of my own choosing. I do not appreciate friends approaching me for sponsoring their hobby. Which is what it is. You want to push yourself and feel the sense of achievement of running a really fucking long way. Which is completely possible to do all on your own, wherever and whenever the fuck you like. No money has to change hands whatsoever and everyoe could carry on giving to the charities they choose to.

I don’t enjoy running and could never be good enough at it o run a marathon. I like swimming and could probably train to swim the channel if I truly chose to. But I would be under no illusion that doing that would be a completely selfish act that would only serve to make myself feel validated.

RunMummyRun68 · 22/04/2018 21:59

I agree

I ran it today... respect the distance and train for it. Katie's 10k training just wont cut it

It was brutal in the heat today.... but amazing. I got a charity place through crunch (charity clearing) running as part of a 4 person team.

squeaver · 22/04/2018 21:59

She certainly hasn't been acknowledged by the British Lung Foundation as one of their runners: twitter.com/lunguk

But she must have been officially registered or you wouldn't have been able to track her on the website.

Roussette · 22/04/2018 22:05

Congratulations RunMummy the heat was excrutiating wasn't it... I really felt for the runners (DD included!)

DBoo · 22/04/2018 22:05

She didnt dp the PA theres a story on gazettelive for that area.

Hygge · 22/04/2018 22:07

A family member ran today (completed in just over three hours, despite losing a month of training to an injury) and he has posted a picture of her in that costume and a blue t-shirt on facebook.

I'll have to ask him where he saw her to get the picture. It looks like there's a train in the background and although her hair is behind her back I can't see a number on her t-shirt.

There's just a picture of a red balloon and then the name of the charity underneath.

CurbsideProphet · 22/04/2018 22:14

Didn't KP try the marathon and not finish a few years ago?

StealthPolarBear · 22/04/2018 22:15

So she made a fool of herself and didn't raise a penny. Why would a charity want to be linked to her

IronicWitttUsername · 22/04/2018 22:20

Yeah she ran with Peter Andre before and she pulled out cos of her knee.

You'd think she would have trained properly

TriHard27 · 22/04/2018 22:23

I wouldn’t run on sponsorship either just because I run regularly and wouldn’t ask my friends to pay out towards something I do anyway but I’d definitely chuck a couple of quid in for people who have never run a marathon or are never likely to run one again. The time and effort it takes to raise the kind of money the charities ask for would take up roughly as much time as the actual training. £££ Grin

You can qualify based on a good for age time anyway which is pretty achievable for a senior woman, bit harder for men or get lucky for a ballot place, neither of which require you to raise charity money.

EveningHare · 22/04/2018 22:24

2009 she said she was having a miscarriage - very sad

Then she pulled out of other ones

To think someone else could’ve made better use of this Marathon place?
upsideup · 22/04/2018 22:25

She completed the 2009 london marathon with Peter andre, I think she was planning to enter another year after that but pulled out before race day

EveningHare · 22/04/2018 22:29

BerylStreep She's 39. I'm sure she used to be three years younger than me, and I'm 48 now. How does that happen?

Got together when she was 19, Split up after 2 years together.. in 1998? So she would be 19 in 1996
Her date of birth us 1978?

Her age...

To think someone else could’ve made better use of this Marathon place?
To think someone else could’ve made better use of this Marathon place?
Roussette · 22/04/2018 22:29

Knowing her penchant for publicity, I imagine that's what it's all about. Self promotion.

Puffycat · 22/04/2018 22:38

I just want to say that Katie Price is my hero. She’s beautiful and talented and has devoted her whole life to others. She ran that marathon like a bloody star and for you to.....cough.....cough.........sorry.......something stuck there.....coff.......aaaaargggghghg!
That’s better.
Couldn’t agree more op