Virgin Money London Marathon Launches #WeRunTogether Campaign For Race’s Return To Traditional Format

On 25 August property owner London Marathon Events launched a campaign called ‘We Run Together’ to champion the return of the Virgin Money London Marathon to its traditional central London course on 3 October.

The race organisers and sponsors Virgin Money rolled out ‘We Run Together’ as a celebration of the of the race following its truncated pandemic version which will once again return to its traditional route and format where both elite athletes and other participants take to the landmark route.

To launch was led by a short film called ‘This Year More Than Ever #WeRunTogether’ which features the faces of 55 participants from this year’s race alongside emotional and inspirational words written and narrated by spoken word artist and rapper John Bernard.

The real runners featured each tell their own stories from the past 18 months and state their own reasons for running. Among them are elite athletes (such as the 2020 women’s winner Brigid Kosgei) and amateurs (like NHS key workers), members of local running groups and those running for charities (such as Macmillan cancer support).

“Sunday, 3rd October will be an extraordinary day in our history and our We Run Together campaign captures perfectly how emotional and wonderful it will be,” said Event Director Hugh Brasher. “Back in 1981, my father Chris Brasher and John Disley created the London Marathon to show how the family of humankind can be united and ‘to have fun and provide some happiness and a sense of achievement in a troubled world.’ This year, that is more important than ever before. On Sunday 3rd October, wherever people are running their marathon – whether it be on the streets of London, or anywhere else in the world as part of the virtual event – they will do it together. That is what makes the London Marathon so special. We are one family. We Run Together.”

Comment:

Interestingly, while the mass participation rave returns to the streets of London, an additional strand of the 2022 race will see up to 50,000 again run virtually around the world alongside the main event itself.