The 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon raised a record-breaking £63.7m for charity, setting a new world record for an annual single day fundraising event.

According to the event organisers, the new record was an increase of more than £2m on the previous record total of £61.5m raised from the 2017 event. This brings the overall sum raised for charity since inception to more than £955m.

Commenting, Virgin Money Giving executive director, Jo Barnett said: "Once again the generosity of the public around the Virgin Money London Marathon is truly astounding and we are delighted to be able to play our part in raising money for so many worthwhile causes.

Several charities, including Children with Cancer, Teenage Cancer Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, Mind, Whizz-Kidz, NSPCC and Cancer Research UK, raised more than £1m from the 2018 race.

Children with Cancer was the top fundraising charity, raising more than £3m. The London Marathon is the charity’s single biggest fundraising event and generates around 20 per cent of its annual income.

The charity’s senior sports events manager, Emily Roff said: "We are delighted to have raised such an incredible amount to fund vital specialist research to help save the life of every child with cancer and keep their family together. We’d like to say a huge thank you to London Marathon Events as well as all of our dedicated runners. We’re looking forward to making 2019 another record breaking year."

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