This year’s Virgin London Marathon has raised £51.8m, a record for both the race and for any single fundraising event in the world.

The April 2011 race’s fundraising total is up by more than £1m on 2010’s record-breaking sum despite the fact that 5 per cent fewer runners actually finished the race. Just under 35,000 runners crossed the finish line this year.

The race has had a strong five years in terms of fundraising, raising more money each year since before the recession.

David Bedford, London Marathon race director, said, "The fact that this figure increased again for the fifth year in a row, despite having fewer finishers, shows just how committed our runners are to raising funds for good causes.

"There is no other marathon that comes close to us as an annual fund raising event. In fact, there is no other annual fund raising event worldwide that raises as much money as we do for charities.