As this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon approaches, many charities will have fought hard to recruit potentially lucrative runners. Sarah Osborne shares advice on how to attract marathon runners to your cause and how to keep them running. 

You only have to scroll down the seemingly endless list of charities with gold and silver bond places on the Virgin Money London Marathon website to appreciate just how overwhelming it can be for runners deciding which good cause to run for. Some £53m was raised for charities in 2013 through the Virgin Money London Marathon and this is just one, albeit the largest, of many marathons throughout the UK and abroad that charity runners are taking part in.