Many of our fundraisers like to do physical challenges – like marathons – in support of those who can only dream of being able to do something so energetic and demanding. And fundraising is vital to support the ME Association in our drive to improve the lives of people with M.E.
The London Marathon is one of the world's most prestigious events and securing a place can be almost as hard as pounding the pavement for 26 miles! Unfortunately, the ME Association does not have any charity places for next year, but there is a chance that places could be available in 2020.
Our fundraising manager, Helen Hyland, is receiving emails from disappointed runners who have not been successful in securing a place to run in the London Marathon through the ballot. They all ask if we have a charity space going spare.
Charity ballot for 2020
We are sorry to announce that the ME Association has not purchased any charity places for the London Marathon in 2019. We couldn’t even if we wanted to, as we understand that the Bond Schemes are fully subscribed for years in advance and the waiting lists are closed.
But, if you have your heart set on running, we believe that there is likely to be a charity ballot scheme for 2020.
This is where any charity can bid to become one of 500 national charities to secure a single place in the race. That’s 2020, and not 2019, and this is a ballot – there is no guarantee that we will be successful in securing a place.
However, if you would like to go ahead and try for a place in the London Marathon 2020, then please write to Helen and tell her why you think you should be awarded a place and explain how you would raise over £1000 in return.
Your application should arrive before 1st April 2019. We must stress, there is no guarantee that we will be lucky enough to secure you a place.
But 2020 is a long way ahead. Why not plan to run another marathon for the ME Association in the meantime?
Whilst London is supposed to be rather special, our fundraisers have had great experiences running in other races across the country and elsewhere around the world. We are happy to support our fundraisers in all well organised events – from 5k Santa Dashes and Colour Runs to ultra-marathons and more.
Other challenges
Alternatively, we’ve had a few runners book places for challenges through Action Challenge or Discover Adventure or other similar charity challenge organisations and they’ve all come back raving about the support and their experiences.
The harder the challenge, the more the organisation charges the charity, and the higher the fundraising target set for the runner. But don’t let that put you off – all our runners have hit their targets easily this year.
We are really sorry if you had hoped to run for ME Association in next year’s London Marathon. But please let us work with you to find an alternative challenge worthy of your ambition.
And if running a marathon is beyond your ability, do still talk to Helen about other fundraising challenges that you could still safely tackle. And take a look at our Get Involved section here on the website for more ideas and ways in which you can support the work that we do.
Thank you for thinking of the ME Association. We really do value your support.
The ME Association
Please help us continue our work
Please donate – whatever you can afford – to help us continue with our work to make the UK a better place for people with M.E. Just click the button below to visit our JustGiving page:
Or why not join the ME Association as a member and become a part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) payment you will not only be helping to keep us doing what we do best, but will receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.