THE organisers of the MBNA Chester Marathon have announced they expect the final tally raised for charity by runners of this year’s event to be well in excess of £500,000.
Joint race organiser Chris Hulse, of Active Leisure Events, said: “The fabulous fundraisers do themselves proud every year by raising thousands of pounds for a spread of local and national charities.”
The organisers are proud to support local organisations and charities and donate more than £20,000 each year from race entry fees.
“We are pleased to be supporting St John’s Ambulance as the nominated race charity,” continued Hulse.
“Other charities the runners are raising funds for include the Countess of Chester Hospital’s Babygrow Appeal, the Claire House Children’s Hospice, Macmilllan, The Royal British Legion, Run4Cancer, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Chelsea Burley Trust.”
Running for charity has always been a big part of events such as the MBNA Chester Marathon and its sister race the ESSAR Chester Half Marathon, which is now into its 36th year, with more than 20% of participants taking to the road to help worthwhile causes.
One such person is Emma Collinson, of Chester , who ran the Metric Marathon for St John’s Ambulance.
She said: “I was raising funds to get a defibrillator – a work colleague had recently died of a heart condition.”
“It’s a win-win situation,” added joint race organiser Andy White.
“Running for charity is an excellent way to get motivated.
“On those days when you really don’t feel like going out for a vital training run the knowledge that your efforts in the marathon will be helping others is a powerful incentive to get fitter and go the distance.”
The 2017 MBNA Chester Marathon and its sister event, the Essar Chester 2017 Half Marathon , are both open for entries at www.chestermarathon.co.uk and www.chesterhalfmarathon.co.uk respectively.
The half marathon takes place on May 21 followed by the marathon on October 8.
A film of the marathon can be seen at youtu.be/SLgFX7mwwAU .
