NB: I originally drafted a version of this post in early 2020 after I applied to run the Boston Marathon for a charity – and I was not selected to receive a charity bib that year.

The London Marathon is one of the hardest marathons to get into. Approx 53,000 people run it, from professional athletes to wheelchair athletes to the average person like me who loves the experience and challenge of pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles. But how to get in?

According to Wikipedia, here are the ways you can enter the London Marathon:

There are multiple ways that runners can enter the London Marathon. The breakdown of places is not publicly shared by the organisation. As of 2023, the available places are generally considered to be distributed approximately as follows:

• Elite (100)
• Celebrity (100)
• Championship (1,000)
• Affiliated Running Clubs (1,515)
• Good For Age Entry (6,000)
• General Ballot (approximately 17,000)
• Charity (25,000)

Looking at this list, I am:

1. not elite – and certainly not fast enough for a ‘good for age entry’. I’m lucky if I can even complete all my planned training runs in a given week – let alone train to cut my race time, especially since I’ve been dealing with synovitis since 2021!
2. not a celebrity (just in case you were wondering about that)
3. not in the UK, so I’m not affiliated with any running clubs to obtain a bib
4. unlucky in the lottery/general ballot (In 2024, the lottery had 840,318 applicants for the 2025 event! Apparently, the success rate is about 3% to enter via the lottery.)

I applied to the lottery as one of the 840,318 entries, but had minimal expectations to get a positive reply from the race. So to increase my chances of running this event, I decided to also apply for a charity bib. In May, I applied to The Brain Tumour Charity as part of their 2025 team, hoping to be successful and run in support of a cause very near and dear to my heart. And then I just had to wait for notifications to come in to know if I would be making it to London.

Fast forward a couple months, and on 26 June, I received the expected rejection from the lottery around 6am (better than the previous year when they rejected me before 2am!), and I started anxiously checking my emails several times a day for the notification about the place on a charity team, knowing that my options were dwindling and I may need to try and look for a tour operator who would have a guaranteed entry as part of an expensive travel package.

On 4 July, as Hurricane Beryl passed over Cayman and I watched the wave hit the shore in the storm, I received a call from an unknown UK number. Already on heightened emotions, I realised what the call was, and answered it with a breathless ‘hello’. In the middle of having our home and island pummeled by mother nature, this kind woman on the phone was reaching out to offer me a spot on The Brain Tumour Charity London Marathon 2025 team.

I’m running the London Marathon on 27 April 2025 in memory of my mom, Rosemary Bungay.

Friends, I didn’t realise how much I wanted to run this event until that moment. I started to tear up and my voice caught in my throat. I of course want to run for the charity and to remember my mom. This race, though, my friend will be running her first marathon for a cancer charity in memory of her dad, who sadly died from pancreatic cancer earlier this year in January. She was the reason I initially applied for the ballot to enter, as she wanted to do this for her dad. I was happy to run for a brain cancer charity, and doubly happy to do this as a way to also support her through the training and race day experience.

As part of my commitment to the Brain Tumour Charity, I will raise a minimum of £2,700 to support research initiatives and development of better treatment for those facing the diagnosis of a brain tumour. When my mom died from glioblastoma, I knew I would at some point use my running to do what I could to raise money and start conversations about brain tumors/cancer. Hopefully through my efforts – and those of others who participate in and donate to events like this – will help other families to not go through what my family did. What my mom faced.

So for my mom, I will get back to work in this oppressive Cayman heat and humidity, find a training plan that works with the issues I have in my aging body, and prepare to run one of my strongest races ever – whatever that means on the day. I invite you to join me in remembering my mom by donating to my fundraising efforts for The Brain Tumour Charity!

PS: For anyone donating a minimum of £100 through my JustGiving page, I will dedicate a mile of my race to someone special to you – in honour or in memory of them. I would want to know their name, why you want to honour them, and which mile number I should dedicate. Miles are first come, first serve for this purpose; I will let you know if your chosen mile has already been reserved so you can choose another mile.

DONATE HERE