Runners raise £54m by taking part in race

Research by The Great Run Company shows that participants in the 23 Great Run events across the UK – including the Great South Run which took place in Southsea – have raised an estimated £53,945,246 for hundreds of charities over the past 12 months.

With more than 200,000 finishers across the events from Glasgow to Portsmouth, almost a third of participants were raising money for charity, with an average of around £300 raised per runner.

The amount was based on an estimate following post-event questionnaires across the events.

The figure is expected to be even higher in 2017 with the addition of two new marathons in Stirling and Birmingham, alongside a range of events in Aberdeen and the introduction of a half marathon in Manchester.

Mark Hollinshead, group chief executive, said: ‘Charity participants are the lifeblood of our events and we’re delighted to see such a magnificent amount of money raised for good causes in 2016.

‘It is heartening to see that there is so much goodwill among our running community.’