Is sport the ultimate charity support tool?

London Marathon

Katherine Selby - London MarathonAs fundraising sports events go, you won’t find much bigger than the London Marathon.  The elite runners and wheelchair athletes competing to break records as they break the tape is exciting to watch but the real spectacle is the 40,000 runners who follow in their wake. These days it’s pretty much expected that if you run London, you’re running for charity. Out on the course, club or plain t-shirts were few and far between: the overriding feeling as we sweated out 26.2 miles in the hottest London Marathon on record was that of people pushing their physical limits for good causes.

The power of sport to drive participants and sponsors rests on two key ingredients: emotion and effort.  The emotion is shared by all – participants, charities, sponsors and spectators – and is VITAL. I ran for Neurokinex Kids – a new charity that brings rehabilitation and hope to children with paralysis. The rehab is what they do but the emotion of HOPE is what I shared with my sponsors.

Emotion alone isn’t enough, however: your effort is crucial.  As a club runner and Run Leader I can knock out 5K, 10K or 10-miles relatively easily.  So that’s not enough to drive up sponsorship. The London Marathon is another thing altogether – the training and race day took me way out of my comfort zone so people took notice.

Everyone’s effort limit is different: the huge success of Race 4 Life proves that.  Although ‘just’ 5K, for a beginner, someone who does no other exercise, someone with cancer or in remission, it will feel like the marathon did to me.  That effort, combined with emotion, turns this annual sporting event into a formidable fundraiser.

Philanthropy is a force for good: many people won’t take on a sporting event without raising money for good causes.  Some people CAN’T take on a sporting event without a charity place as high profile running event places sell out fast and your only way in is to run for charity.  Be that right or wrong, it’s the reality.  Does that then make the London Marathon less of a sporting event? At the front of the race, this year’s winners, Eliud Kipchoge, Vivian Cheruiyot, and David Weir – not to mention Mo Farah breaking the British record – proved the London Marathon to be World Class.  But the crowds are out for the other runners, make no mistake.

My experience was one of mild disappointment and sheer joy.  Disappointment because the hot weather poleaxed my target time (remember I’m a club runner under that charity vest!). And sheer joy because I smashed my fundraising target, I was the first person to wear a Neurokinex Kids T-shirt in a race and I have put NK Kids firmly on the fundraising map.  My overriding emotion and drive on Sunday to keep going in those debilitating conditions was as a fundraiser, not a runner. I set out to do the charity proud and fulfil the expectation of my sponsors, dedicating the last few gruelling miles to the Neurokinex kids and staff and smashing the target to raise £1180 (£45.38 per mile). Philanthropy drove my sporting performance in London and I was far from alone with that mindset.

All charities are deserving, but it’s those who find people to engage in sport to literally go the extra mile for them that who will ultimately win the race for funds.

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