Leonard Cheshire – London Marathon Participant Terms & Conditions

Terms and conditions for running participants of the London Marathon 2027.

Who We are: 

Leonard Cheshire is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no: 552847, and a registered charity no: 218186 (England & Wales) and no: SC005117 (Scotland). VAT no: 899 3223 75. Registered office: Regus The News Building 3rd Floor 3 London Bridge Street London SE1 9SG 

How to Contact us: 

You can contact us by calling the supporter care line on 0300 124 5245. Our phone line operates Mon, Tues and Friday between 1am and 4pm. You can also email events@leonardcheshire.org. 

How we May contact you: 

If we need to contact to you in respect of the London Marathon, we will do so by phone or by writing to you at the email or postal address provided at sign up. We may also use WhatsApp Messaging under our business account, should email, phone of letter fails to reach you. Please note, WhatsApp will not be used for any marketing material, and solely for the use of updates about the event, Fundraising targets and runner support.  All use of your personal data will be held in accordance with our Privacy Policy, including the sharing of your data with TCS London Marathon organiser when/if applicable.  

Challenge Details 

This event is being organised and will be run by TCS London Marathon Events. The event will be held on the 27th of April 2026. 

 Participation in the London Marathon is also subject to the terms and conditions of TCS London Marathon Events Ltd. Leonard Cheshire acts solely as the charity place provider and is not responsible for race organisation or delivery.

Agreement & Legal Basis  

By completing all required registration steps for a Leonard Cheshire charity place in the London Marathon, you agree with the following.  

Registration  

The registration will fall into 3 stages; you must complete all to ensure your place: 

 
1. Request a place via the “register your interest Form” 

2. Pay your registration fee via the link provided.  

3. Complete the TCS online registration (sent by email directly from the London Marathon Team) 

 A non-refundable registration fee of £100 is required to secure your charity place. 

This fee contributes towards the administration and event costs associated with your place. 

In the event of receiving ballot place, your registration fee will be refunded.  

If you do not complete all registration steps by any deadlines provided by the Challenge Events Team and the London Marathon Events Ltd, your place may be withdrawn. The deadline to complete the London Marathon Events Ltd’s online registration is Thursday 11th March 2027 at 4pm. 

Fundraising & Donations 

All runners agree to raise a minimum of £2,000 (excluding Gift Aid) for Leonard Cheshire. 

As a charity, we incur costs of approximately £400 per runner place. Your fundraising therefore plays a vital role in ensuring we can maximise the support provided to the people and communities we work alongside. 

Runners are expected to meet agreed fundraising milestones throughout the lead up to the event. These milestones will be communicated by the Leonard Cheshire Events Team. 

£400 (20%) by 2nd November 2026 

£800 (40%) 25th January 2027 

£1500 (75%) by 25th March 2027.  

These amounts exclude Gift Aid  

By accepting a Leonard Cheshire charity place, you acknowledge your commitment to raising the minimum fundraising target of £2,000. 

If the target is not reached by race day, the remaining balance of your fundraising pledge should be raised as soon as possible following the event. 

If the minimum fundraising target is not met by 8 weeks after the event date, Leonard Cheshire reserves the right to request payment of any outstanding balance relating to the fundraising shortfall.  

Any decision regarding recovery of shortfalls will take into account individual circumstances, communication, fundraising efforts, and engagement throughout the campaign period. 

Additionally, Failure to engage with fundraising activity, communication attempts, or agreed milestones may result in Leonard Cheshire withdrawing your charity place at its reasonable discretion. 

Donations 

Donations that you, or your sponsors, make to Leonard Cheshire cannot be refunded, except under the limited circumstances permitted by law or provided for in Charity Commission guidance. Decisions about refusing or returning donations will be made by the Charity. Donations will not be refunded if you withdraw from, or do not participate in, the Event. 

You must use the phrase ‘in aid of Leonard Cheshire’ when describing your fundraising or asking for donations. 

All donations you collect in aid of Leonard Cheshire must be paid to the Charity by the following means: 

  1. Via online giving platform links such as Enthuse or Just Giving. As the official partner for London marathon, an enthuse page will be created for you as part of your TCS registration.  
  1. Via the “Pay in your Sponsorship” page on our website.  
  1. Via bank transfer to Leonard Cheshire, with the reference “[name]LM27 Sponsorship”. Bank details can be given on request by the events team.  
  1. Via cheque and cash made payable to ‘Leonard Cheshire’ and posted to: 

Leonard Cheshire Events Team  

Regus 
The News Building 
3rd Floor 
3 London Bridge Street 
London 
SE1 9SG 

  1. Via the digital CAF vouchers or charities trust website

Communication 

By registering for a Leonard Cheshire charity place, you agree that members of the Leonard Cheshire team may contact you regarding your participation and fundraising via: 

  • Email 
  • Telephone 
  • SMS/WhatsApp messaging 

This communication will relate specifically to your event participation, fundraising support, stewardship, and important event information only. These methods will not be used for any marketing purposes.  

You can opt out of direct WhatsApp communications during registration or by emailing evetns@leonardcheshire at any time.  

WhatsApp Community Group 

As part of your runner experience, Leonard Cheshire will invite participants to join an optional WhatsApp community or group chat for event participants. 

These groups are intended to provide motivation, fundraising support, training encouragement, and event updates. 

By joining a WhatsApp group, you acknowledge that your phone number and WhatsApp profile information may be visible to other group members. 

Participation is entirely optional, and runners may leave the group at any time. 

To help maintain a safe, supportive, and respectful environment for all participants: 

  • Group members must communicate respectfully and appropriately at all times 
  • Harmful, offensive, discriminatory, inappropriate, or abusive messages/content will not be tolerated and may be removed 
  • Leonard Cheshire reserves the right to remove individuals from the group where behaviour is considered inappropriate or disruptive 
  • Images or personal information relating to children should not be shared within the group 
  • The WhatsApp group must not be used to promote, market, sell, or advertise other charities, events, businesses, products, services, or fundraising activities unrelated to Leonard Cheshire. 
  • Group conversations will be monitored by members of the Leonard Cheshire team to help ensure the wellbeing and safety of participants and the appropriate use of the platform 

WhatsApp is a third-party platform and Leonard Cheshire is not responsible for its technical operation, availability, or security outside our control. 

As part of the registration process, you will be given the option to opt out of this invite and individual communication via WhatsApp; you can opt out or withdraw from the community group at any time by emailing events@leonardcheshire.org

Deferral and Transfer Requests 

If you are unable to participate due to injury, illness, pregnancy, or other medical or unforeseen circumstances, you must inform Leonard Cheshire as soon as possible. 

Where possible, and at the charity’s discretion, your place may be deferred to the following year’s event and any fundraising already received will be carried forward to your deferred place the following year.  

Requests for deferrals may require supporting evidence and may be subject to an additional registration fee that may be payable in respect of the future event.  

Except in exceptional circumstances, deferment requests should be made no later than eight weeks prior to the event date. 

Charity places are non-transferable and may not be sold, exchanged, or transferred to another individual without the explicit written permission of Leonard Cheshire. 

Event Rules and Participation 

All runners must comply with: 

  • The event organiser’s rules and terms of participation 
  • Any health and safety guidance issued by the event organiser or Leonard Cheshire 
  • All applicable laws and regulations on the day of the event 
  • All participants must be over the age of 18 years old.  

Participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for ensuring they are medically fit to participate. 

You accept that the Charity will not be held responsible for any accident, injury, loss or damage related to your training, fundraising or participation in the Event. 

Event Changes or Cancellation (Force Majeure) 

Leonard Cheshire cannot be held responsible for changes, postponement, or cancellation of the event by the organisers or any third party due to circumstances outside of our reasonable control. 

Such circumstances may include (but are not limited to) extreme weather, natural disasters, fire, flood, pandemic, government restrictions, terrorism, war, civil unrest, or decisions made by TCS London Marathon Events Ltd or other governing bodies. 

In the event of cancellation or postponement, or where circumstances outside our control impact delivery of the Event or associated fundraising activities, we will communicate available options as provided by the event organiser and/or appropriate authorities. 

Runner Resources and Fundraising Materials 

All registered runners will receive: 

  • An official Leonard Cheshire running vest 
  • Iron-on name transfers 
  • A Leonard Cheshire running buff 

Leonard Cheshire may also be able to provide additional branded fundraising materials to support your fundraising efforts, such as collection buckets, balloons, posters, tote bags, or similar items. 

These additional resources are subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and should be made with reasonable notice where possible. 

As these materials are provided at a cost to the charity, they are intended to support active fundraising activity. Availability of additional resources may therefore be influenced by a runner’s level of engagement with their fundraising, including progress towards agreed targets and milestones. 

Leonard Cheshire reserves the right to limit or withhold additional materials where there is limited or no evidence of active fundraising activity. 

Data Protection and Fundraising Monitoring 

Your personal data will be handled in accordance with Leonard Cheshire’s privacy notice and used for the administration of your event participation and related communications. 

The legal basis for processing your personal data is the performance of a contract (to manage your participation in the Event) and our legitimate interests in administering, supporting, and monitoring fundraising activity. 

As part of managing our charity place programme, Leonard Cheshire will carry out light profiling and monitoring activities relating to your fundraising progress and engagement. This helps us to: 

  • Track fundraising activity and milestone progress 
  • Identify where additional support may be helpful 
  • Tailor fundraising guidance and communications 
  • Ensure charity places are being actively utilised 

This profiling is limited to information connected to your event participation and fundraising activity, such as donation totals, engagement with communications, and fundraising platform activity. 

We will retain your personal data for up to 12 months following the Event date, after which it will be securely deleted or anonymised in line with our retention policy. 

WhatsApp group data (where applicable) will be deleted 3 weeks after the London Marathon event. Individual WhatsApp contact details used for direct communication will be deleted 3 months post-event. 

You have rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to access, correct, request deletion, or restrict how your data is processed, as well as the right to object to certain types of processing. Full details of your rights and how to exercise them can be found in our Privacy Notice.

Where appropriate, members of the Leonard Cheshire team may proactively contact you by phone, email, SMS, or WhatsApp to offer fundraising support, discuss progress against milestones, or address any concerns regarding engagement with the charity place agreement. 

Leonard Cheshire will always process personal data responsibly and in line with applicable data protection legislation. 

Updates to these Terms & Conditions  

The Charity reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions from time to time without notice prior to the Event by updating the version of the Terms and Conditions on the website. You agree to any modifications made to these Terms and Conditions after you submit your application form.