Since the first race was arranged in 1981, the London Marathon has brought in nearly 17 billion kronor for various forms of charity. No sporting one-day event is close to collecting as much money, writes news agency AFP.
Nearly three out of four runners participate in some form of fundraising. This year, over 700 are running to raise more money for tests to detect pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
840,318 registered to run this year's race. Around 56,000 were lucky in the draw and get to participate.
It's a diverse group that comes to the start.
Going the final stretch
Alex Gibson suffers from a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes gradual paralysis. He completes the race in his wheelchair. If all goes as planned, he'll stop with a kilometer left, get up, and walk the rest of the distance to prove that anything is possible.
I should have stopped walking years ago due to the cruel disease, but I'm convinced that I'll keep trying, he says.
Dave Heeley, or "Blind Dave" as he's called, is running his 17th and final race together with his daughters.
Laura Coleman-Day is running in her wedding dress, in memory of her husband who died of leukemia in February 2024. If her husband had lived, they would have celebrated their wedding day on Sunday.
Raising money for a playground
Alice da Silva, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, were brutally stabbed to death in Southport on July 29, 2024. The murders shocked England and led to severe riots around the country.
Now, the fathers of Elsie and Alice are running the "marathon" together with teachers from the school where Alice and Bebe attended. They're raising money to build a new playground at the school.
Alice's boundless energy, enthusiasm, and creativity will live on at the new playground through other students every day, says father Sergio Aguiar according to AFP.
