The London Marathon will proceed with heightened security on Sunday following two explosions at the Boston Marathon yesterday which saw over 130 injured and three confirmed deaths.

Security at the world’s largest fundraising event is currently under review, said the Metropolitan Police who will work with event organisers to ensure the safety of participants.

Responding to yesterday’s blasts, which saw two out of five devices explode along the Boston Marathon route, Nick Bittel, London Marathon chief executive said: “We are deeply saddened and shocked by the news from Boston. Our immediate thoughts are with the people there and their families. It is a very sad day for athletics and for our friends and colleagues in marathon running.

"Our security plan is developed jointly with the Metropolitan Police and we were in contact with them as soon as we heard the news."

The London Marathon raised a record-breaking £52.8m for good causes in 2012, seeing 36,705 people cross the finish line. The London Marathon is the world's biggest fundraising event and has raised £610.7m for good causes since 1981. Age UK and YouthNet are joint official charities for the London Marathon this year. Their respective CEOs, Tom Wright and Emma Thomas, said:

“We are shocked by the tragic events in Boston and our thoughts are with all those who were injured and their families,” reiterating that security is being appropriately reviewed by the organisers and the Met Police.

British runners in Boston

It is not yet known who planted the devices in Boston, or why, but the FBI has taken responsibility for investigations.
A reported 347 Britons and 108 Irish runners were signed up for the Boston Marathon, which together with the London Marathon form part of the World Marathon Majors, which also incorporates the Berlin, Chicago and New York marathons. Many were running for British charities.

Ligita Visocktye was running for Action for Children. She spoke of her ordeal: “I just got safely home. I'm ok, but the first bomb was 20 steps behind me, the second one 10-20 steps in front of me,” she said. “Met my friend by miracle after that, and felt so much better. Now home, safely home.” She has raised £1,275 for Action for Children. The charity extended its sympathies to those affected, adding: “Although we had no official team, we understand that some runners were raising funds for Action for Children. We would urge anyone in Boston to follow the official advice from the Boston Athletics Association available at Facebook.com/thebostonmarathon.”

Firefighters Charity too breathed a sigh of relief as it announced via Twitter that fire fighter Jez Hughes, who was running the Boston Marathon for the charity was “safe and well”.

Other UK charities took to Twitter to share their condolences for the Boston Marathon runners affected. Buttle UK said: “Thoughts with families of victims in #Boston yesterday, and the runners preparing for next week’s VLM. Many injured were running for charity.”

Meanwhile Action Fraud warned of fake Twitter accounts claiming to donate funds to the victims of the blasts in return for retweets. “Beware of fake accounts asking for retweets, texting or donations to support victims,” said the UK anti-fraud organisation. One such account @_bostonmarathon, which has now been suspended, amassed over 50,000 retweets before raising suspicions. 

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