Race organisers for the London Marathon have said the event could still go ahead in October. BBC Sport report that the organisers “have not given up hope” of holding the event despite the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic.
The race which was due to be held on April 26th was pushed back to October 4th. Organisers have said the event could still go ahead. It was due to be a historic milestone in the 40th year of the event. The director of the race Hugh Basher said “He hopes that the world will have found a way through coronavirus by October”. It was the first time since the event began in 1981 that it was postponed. Basher said that “Whatever decision we take will be in line with our values and with the responsibility we have,”. He also told people to “focus on your health, running and exercise”.
Many organisations rely on the marathon for much needed funding. In 2019 for instance 40,000 runners took part, raising an astonishing £66.4 million for charities. If the event doesn’t go ahead these charities will miss out on thousands of much to keep them afloat.
Earlier this week the Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields was postponed. It was expected that nearly 60,000 people were due to run in the event on the 13th of September. Organisers though said they didn’t take the decision “lightly” and tried every possible avenue to have the run go ahead. The founder of the race, Brendan Foster said, “This year, our 40th was set to be the biggest ever, we had 60,000 entries and it would have been Britain’s biggest ever mass-participation event”.
Paul Foster, chief executive of The Great Run Company, said: “We haven’t taken the decision lightly”. He continued,” As things stand, and even as the situation improves, it’s not going to be possible to meet these goals with any certainty, and so we have concluded that the best course of action is to cancel.”
