The london Marathon - Lets hope it gets cleaned up

[snowaddict]

Anyone else watched dispatches tonight.

I find it disappointing to find out about the practices of the organisation that organises the marathon. I have donated monies in the past to people running in this event - just makes me wonder who much is creamed off to line peoples pockets. Why is the company so secretive. It just stinks of a corrupt organisation and should be made to give more information or have there chariable status took off them if that is possible.

I didn't see it - could you give a brief summary? I am rather interested.

A brief summary:-Journalist Ben Laurance looks at what it costs to stage the London Marathon, how much money it generates and the extent of its charitable giving.

In 2009, 36,000 participants in the London Marathon raised a phenomenal £47 million, cementing the Marathon's place as the biggest one-day fundraising event in the world.

In the course of his investigation Ben discovers who the lucky recipients are of some of the money distributed by the London Marathon race organisers. He also talks to leading charities about the amount they pay to take part, the competition for places, and asks why hundreds of desperate charities are left without a place in Britain's biggest fundraising event.

To summerise - Basically they have a lot of practices which are frowned upon by some respected charities eg. Help the Heroes will not get involved in London marathon any more. Too many question marks over just how much money is finally given to charities. There estimate is around a 1/3 of total amount raised. Thats a lot for administration. Most runners questioned during the filming thought the charities would probably get 80%. The list goes on. Very disappointing.

I found the lack of transparency quite disgraceful.

From now on I shall not provide sponsorship to runners in this event but give my donations directly to a charity (that hasn't paid their ludicrous demands for entry money)

they pay to take part?

Runners always pay to take part in road races and marathons regardless of who they are running for or if they are simply running for themselves. That is not unique to the London Marathon.

Was there any mention of a lot of corporate hospitality?

I watched the programme. "Help for Heroes will not get involved in London marathon any more" is not what was said. Basically, a number of big/medium/smaller charities get the golden bond places that were described, at a cost of £350 per place. Golden bond places are now scarcely available to charities as they are all "taken" already. So the only way for a new charity like H for H to get guaranteed places is to pay a whole lot more than the £350 per place, which quite reasonably, they decline to do.
I cannot see why it was beyond the wit of the programme to have researched how many places are allocated by "golden bond": why did charities contacted refuse to say how many places they have? I know someone who works for a charity who has golden bond places and they are perfectly open about how many are available.

Point noted. I just looked on there website - no mention of london marathon at all. I would have thought that Help for Heroes would not have to struggle for donations and would have loads of runners etc and would have a presence at the marathon. He did mention though that every penny that is donated to there charity does go to the charity. Which is good to hear and probably explains why they don't agree with how its run at the london marathon

yes I agree, snowad, and don't forget they had that guy who took 26 days or whatever to walk it, and he is doing it again this year. Massive publicity for them for that. I do not think it unfair of the LM to charge 350 odd per golden bond place. but i do think it really inequitable that new charities cannot get in on the golden bond act, and that existing bond holders are not listed in some simple x charity = y places order somewhere. at the least, it would give runners an idea of which charities do have places (as per the guy who ended up running for sense). DH is running this year and has just sent an e mail to all those he has asked for donations from to explain he is a £32 runner this year, not a golden bond runner. Pity really if lots of people think like Wetaugust as it is fantastic when people sponsor runners. Can't rsvp if you reply to this, snowad, as have to go to bed!!

Link to the programme (over 25 days left to view it).

Must say that I'm unhappy that there's a fee of 350 quid. My nephew along with his fiancee, ran last year, on behalf of a charity, but I hope there wasn't such a high fee paid.

I will certainly watch the programme and consider this aspect in future years.

Well done Channel 4.