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Announcing our new partnership with the Zest Challenge

Published May 17, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News Leave a Comment
Tags: 10k, 5k, Catton Hall, Henley on Thames, Zest Challenge

Zest Challenge

We’re really excited to announce that we’re the official fundraising partner of the Zest Challenge 2013 with Alpro.

The Zest Challenge is a unique event for women that involved 5 or 10k To be held over two weekends in 2013, 15 June at Hambledon Estate, Henley on Thames and 22June at Catton Hall, Derbyshire. With added obstacles like hay bales, nets, tyres, balance beams and a giant waterslide it’s not quite your average run.

The challenge in 2013 caters for all levels for fitness with a 5km and 10km distance. And due to the fantastic success of the 2012 event, the Zest Challenge has introduced two locations this year. The day starting with breakfast provided by Alpro, will be a wet, muddy and adventurous way for women to get outdoors with their friends and burn some energy.

Zest Challenge 2013 with Alpro is aiming to become a fun way for women to be active, as well as raise money for charitable causes close to their heart.

If you’d like to find out more head on over to http://www.zest.co.uk/challenge2013/ where you can register for either Henley or Catton Hall, and don’t forget to create your Virgin Money Giving Fundraising for the Zest Challenge Henley or the Zest Challenge Catton Hall.

Virgin London Marathon infographic

Published April 20, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News 23 Comments
Tags: #VLM2013, Infograhic, Statistics, Virgin London Marathon

Everyone knows the Virgin London Marathon is 26.2 miles long but there are lots of other numbers behind the iconic event.

Our friends at Virgin Money have packaged some of them up in this handy infographic.

Virgin London Marathon infographic

These London Marathon Runners will stand out from the crowd

Published April 20, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News 2 Comments
Tags: #VLM2013, Guinness World Records, Virgin London Marathon

As if running 26.2 miles wasn’t difficult enough, this bunch of runners are planning on making the Virgin London Marathon that little bit more challenging by wearing fancy dress and in the process raising money for lots of good causes.

If you’re spectating on Sunday keep your eyes peeled for ‘Foamy’ the fire extinguisher, a giant shoe, a chef, a Gorilla and a newly-married couple wearing wedding dresses. They’re just some of the characters challenging their respective Guinness World Records.

Newly-married couple Sophie and Toby McCorry from Rochester hope to cross the finish line ‘threshold’ together in 3:41:40 to break the Guinness World Record. Their training has been going well, ‘regular cross-dresser’ Toby has been helping Sophie complete the long runs, with only one breakdown in a Wickes car park! They both see Sunday as a “great way of showing their commitment to each other”.

Chef Chris Wheeler is a dab hand at running the London Marathon whilst ‘cooking’, he tossed a pancake for 26.2 miles 7 years ago. This year he’s carrying a 3kg stockpot along the route to raise money for Help a Capital Child. Chris got his place by winning a Capital FM competition, he’s running for the Breakfast Team and to clinch the Guinness World Record he needs to cook his way to the finish line within 5 hours.

Redhead Susie Hewer is trying to improve on her existing record this year for the “Longest Scarf Knitted Whilst Running a Marathon”. Susie started running 8 years ago and this will be her 31st marathon. She says it all started when a friend told her to ‘start acting her age’ so she took up knitting! Not sure her friend meant running whilst knitting. The record to beat isn’t about time it’s about length, Susie needs to beat her own record of 1 metre 62cm.

All of the fundraisers will be wearing their black ribbons on Sunday to show their support for the Boston Marathon. When asked about the events in Boston they all re-iterated the same message: “the fantastic spectacle of the Virgin London Marathon must go on. What happened on Monday just makes us more determined to complete the London Marathon and our record breaking challenges.”

Raise Mo’ money with inspiration from the British contenders

Published April 18, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News Leave a Comment
Tags: Mo Farah, Virgin London Marathon

As photo calls go that was the most hectic of the week so far, but we always knew it would be with a certain special guest present – Mo Farah. Lining up alongside our British hopefuls Scott Overall and Amy Whitehead, Mo was in very good spirits, he even joked that being surrounded by photographers was “like being at a football match”.

After the exciting photo shoot it was time to ask questions in the press conference. The room was packed wall to wall with cameramen and journalists all eager to hear from the British stars.

We started with an excitable Mo who’s looking forward to testing the London Marathon course in anticipation for taking on the distance in the future. And when asked what he’ll do when he drops out at half way his response was “come back in and finish watching it on TV”.

Finishing first Brit is top of Scott Overall’s agenda. He says after training with Mo and spending the winter in Iten, Kenya he feels in good shape but doesn’t want to commit to a predicted time.

“Hazardous Amy”, nicknamed as she’s so clumsy and still has ‘baby brain’, didn’t mind revealing her target time. Currently her personal best is 2.33.44 from the Manchester Marathon but she’s gunning for sub 2.31 (World Championship qualifying time) and says that anything over that and she’d be disappointed. And with all her family coming to London to watch her in what she calls the “best marathon in the world for atmosphere” she’s hoping to impress.

Mo was asked if he suffers from ‘Baby Brain’ too, to which his response was, “no, I really enjoy having a young family and love being a parent. The only drawback is I get less time on Fifa!”

The streets of London are sure to be packed during Sunday’s race, cheering on all our British Contenders and Mo, so make the most of the “best marathon atmosphere in the world” to get you to the finish line. And don’t forget to hassle your friends and family for donations once you’ve completed your personal challenge.

Jaidy

Published April 18, 2013 Fundraiser Stories , Virgin Money Giving News 1 Comment
Tags: #VLM2013, AgeUK, Justin Khan, Virgin London Marathon, YouthNet

And here’s the third one in our series, from Justin Khan. He’s originally from Canada but now lives in the UK and is running the Virgin London Marathon in memory of his Grandma ‘Jaidy’. To catch up on the first 2 blogs just visit blog.virginmoneygiving.com

In 2012, Jaidy became ill and unfortunately passed away, this was a difficult time for Justin who described it as not only losing a Grandma but his best friend too. The tough times were only just starting though as it was at this time he found out his Grandma was suffering from depression.

Justin decided to run the Virgin London Marathon for Team Run For It in memory of his Grandma and fundraise for Age UK and YouthNet. This way he could channel his passion for running and help other elderly people who feel alone so they didn’t have to go through what Jaidy did.

He says: “April 21 2013 will be a very emotional and challenging day…it is race day and it is Jaidy’s 81st birthday. Every mile will be for my Grandma and the elderly who feel alone, whether in the UK or elsewhere. At mile 22 when I feel like giving up, I will try and crack a smile and finish strong at mile 26.”

To help Justin crack a smile at mile 26 you can show your support and donate to his fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Justin Khan.

Virgin Trains can help your supporters get to the Virgin London Marathon

Published April 16, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News Leave a Comment
Tags: #VLM2013, Virgin London Marathon, Virgin Trains

With less than a week to go until the 2013 Virgin London Marathon, hopefully your training is going well and your fundraising total is shooting up.

You might want to start thinking about how you’re going to get to London for the race, especially if you’ve got friends, family, and colleagues coming down to cheer you along.

Our friends at Virgin Trains will be running additional early trains on Sunday 21 April to help your friends and family get down to London.

The extra services leave from Wolverhampton, Liverpool and Manchester and arrive in London Euston before 9am. This should give them plenty of time to find a good spot to see you run past. They’ve also got plenty of services in the afternoon and evening to bring you all home again.

Details of the early trains:

Wolverhampton	Liverpool Lime Street	Manchester
06:00 Wolverhampton	05:50 Liverpool Lime Street	05:33 Manchester
06:20 Birmingham New Street	06:09 Runcorn	05:44 Stockport
06:30 Birmingham International	06:30 Crewe	05:51 Wilmslow
06:41 Coventry	06:49 Stafford	06:12 Crewe
06:54 Rugby	07:29 Rugby	06:31 Stafford
07:29 Milton Keynes	08:03 Milton Keynes	07:06 Rugby
08:19 London Euston	08:51 London Euston	07:42 Milton Keynes
		08:28 London Euston

For more details and to book advance tickets visit http://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/

Virgin Trains

Come and see us at the Virgin London Marathon Expo

Published April 15, 2013 Events , Virgin Money Giving News 1 Comment
Tags: Iwan Thomas, London Marathon, Photo booth, Virgin London Marathon

The Virgin Money Giving photobooths If you’re heading up to the Virgin London Marathon Expo this week to collect your race number, one place you should definitely stop off at is the Virgin Money Giving Stand (you’ll find us in the Virgin area opposite the main stage). After their extremely popular appearance last year our Virgin Money Giving photo booths are back.

You can strike a pose with your race number, squeeze in all your friends and family or maybe get a photo with a celeb (last year we couldn’t keep Iwan Thomas out of them). The booth will print a couple of copies of your photo, one to keep and one to hang up on our wall of fame, and you can also post it straight to Twitter or Facebook.

We’ve also got a limited number of supporter packs with some equipment your friends and family can use to make some noise on race, and our team will be on hand to talk fundraising with you if you need any last minute tips.

If you want to plan your visit, take a look at the Interactive Show Plan and we’ll be posting our list of top things to see at Expo a little later in the week.

Opening times for the Virgin London Marathon Expo are:

Wednesday 17 April – 11am to 8pm
Thursday 18 April – 10am to 8pm
Friday 19 April – 10am to 8pm
Saturday 9am top 5pm

With PayPal we’re making Good Friday great!

Published March 27, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News 26 Comments
Tags: Easter, Good Friday, Matched Donations, PayPal, Virgin London Marathon

PayPal

We’re not giving away hot cross buns but we are giving away extra donations to make Good Friday great!

This Easter weekend, if you have a friend that’s running the Virgin London Marathon, donate to their fundraising page using PayPal on Friday 29 March and they’ll match your donation. You’ll need to be quick though as the pot is limited to the first £25,000.

If you’re running the Virgin London Marathon and would like to increase your donations make sure you tell your friends to give generously from just after midnight on Friday 29 March.

The donations will hit fundraising pages by Wednesday 3 April.

Don’t have a Virgin London Marathon fundraising page set up yet? Don’t panic, just set it up now and it will be ready for donations straight away, so you can take advantage of ‘Great Friday’ too. And not only that, you’ll also get a free Virgin London Marathon kitbag to help with your training.

Terms & conditions apply.

Planned Maintenance on the Virgin Money Giving website

Published March 20, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News Leave a Comment
Tags: Maintenance, Planned Maintenance

We’ll be carrying out overnight maintenance to the Virgin Money Giving website tonight.

As a result the website will be unavailable from 22:00 Wednesday 20 March until 06:00 Thursday 21 March 2013.

We appreciate there’s never a good time to make changes to the website, and do our best to schedule the outages over night and when the website is quieter. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but it’s important for us to carry out this type of maintenance to ensure the system runs efficiently to support your fundraising.

If you have any questions or there’s anything we can help with please email theteam@virginmoneygiving.com and our helpdesk team will get back to you from 9:00 Thursday morning.

Virgin Money Giving takes to the airwaves with Capital FM

Published March 14, 2013 Virgin Money Giving News 1 Comment
Tags: Capital FM, Help A Capital Child, London Marathon, Virgin London Marathon

Capital FM, Help a Capital Child & Virgin Money Giving

If you wake up in the morning with ‘Dave and Lisa’ or head home with ‘Greg Burns’ on Capital FM you might have heard that they’ve got a little Virgin London Marathon challenge on the go.

Two teams of listeners are battling it out in a ‘Breakfast’ vs ‘Drive’ fundraising challenge for Help a Capital Child with each team challenged to raise at least £5000.

Representing Breakfast is Capital FM DJ Pandora and her team Alex Barry, Grace Findlater, Guy Wilkinson, Louise Brown and Chris Wheeler.

And heading up team Drive it’s Ant Payne and his team Phil Hinnitt, Jeanette London, Stephanie Herlock, Adam Weidner, and Stephanie Curtis

Not only will they be updating their fundraising and training journey on air, but there’s a couple of fantastic competitions for listeners and supporters so head over to the Capital FM website to find out more….And while you’re there get behind Team Breakfast or Team Drive and make a donation!