We love our London Marathon runners

The London Marathon is one of our favourite events. Nothing beats cheering on our amazing runners in the sunshine, all of whom have put in months of hard work training and fundraising for the event.

This year, Kenya triumphed to take double gold in the professional men’s and women’s race, and club runner Josh Griffiths stunned everyone by qualifying for a place in world athletics championships.

We joined the crowds in the glorious sunshine to cheer on Team Plan and a record number of runners for the 37th year of the world famous event.  

First to greet us at the finish in St James’s Park was the (still smiling) Aritz, with an incredible finish time of 2hrs 47mins 58secs.

It's been a pleasure to run the London Marathon for Team Plan! An outstanding race for an outstanding charity!

Artiz’s speedy finish means that he will qualify for a good for age place in the 2018 event. 

Jen was inspired to take up running by her mum and decided to run her first ever marathon with Team Plan because of her daughter.

“I hated the idea that if my daughter had been born in another country she could have faced inequality, a poor education and limited healthcare”.

“I wanted to raise money to help girls across the world lead a better quality of life.”

It really was an amazing day, thank you for the opportunity to run the London Marathon. I am very proud to be part of Team Plan! 

Paddy, Darran and Harry from our corporate partner Johnson Matthey were all fundraising to support 550 young women to become Learning Assistants in Sierra Leone.

Paddy told us that “runners often dedicate each of the last six miles to a loved one, friend, or supporter to get the through when times get tough - mile 20 was for my sponsors and mile 21, appropriately because that's where I went past you all, was for Plan International.”

As soon as Kylie and her partner Oli made the decision to run the marathon, they knew that they wanted to run for Plan International. Kylie says that she feels humbled by our work.

When running for a charity you have to think about the life changing possibilities of the sponsorship you raise. Several hours of pain goes a long way to improving the lives of many children around the world.

"It's very satisfying to run and hound our friends for money for a charity we actually wanted to support.”

Together the team have raised over £24,000 (and counting) all to support children and young people worldwide. Congratulations to Jen, Kylie, Oli, Georgie, Aritz, Pete, Simon, Darran, Paddy, Harry, Craig, Ed and Sarah on an amazing achievement.  

How can you run the London Marathon with Team Plan?

The 2018 London Marathon ballot is now open and closes at 5pm on Friday 5 May. You can also register your interest in one of our guaranteed charity places and we’ll be in touch when the results are announced in October.

Find out more about how you can run, cycle or trek with Team Plan and help to transform the lives of girls and boys worldwide. Still not convinced, here's five reasons why you need to run the London Marathon with Team Plan.