London Marathon
For the sixth year running, the race has broken the record for charity fundraising at a single annual event
The 2012 London Marathon raised a record £52.8m for good causes, bringing the total raised since the marathon began in 1981 to £610.7m .
The event's organisers said the amount broke the Guinness World Record for charity fundraising at a single annual event for the sixth year running.
A record number of 38,705 runners finished the race in April, 74 per cent of them raising money for good causes.
The totals raised by the marathon have risen steadily over the past five years, from £46.5m in 2007 to £51.8m last year.
Sponsorship for the runner Claire Squires, who was raising funds for Samaritans and who died during the race, reached almost £1m through the donations website JustGiving.
The official charities for this year’s event were Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer Care. They announced in June that they had raised more than £1m from the event, which they would split evenly.
The official charities for the race in 2013 will be Age UK and YouthNet.
Hugh Brasher, the race director, said: "This is an especially impressive total and the fact that this figure increased again for the sixth year in a row, despite the well-publicised economic woes, shows just how committed our runners are to raising funds for good causes."
