Big Ben is Too Big!

On Sunday 28 April 2019, 42 549 people ran the London Marathon, more than ever before.

Lukas Bates, a 30-year-old from Maidstone in Kent, hoped to break the world record for the fastest marathon time dressed as a landmark.

But Lukas’s homemade costume of Big Ben (officially named the Elizabeth Tower) was too tall! Lukas had to be helped across the finishing line by a race volunteer.

When a video of the funny situation went viral, many people looked for his fundraising page. Lukas raised more than six times his target for the charities, Alzheimer’s Research UK and Dementia Revolution.

In total, runners of the 39th London marathon raised a record-breaking amount of more than a billion pounds for charity.

The elite runners made some landmarks of their own, too. This year Brigid Kosgei became the youngest ever women’s winner at age 25 and Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s race for the fourth time in a stunning course record of 2 hours 2 minutes and 37 seconds.

Kipchoge said, “The crowd in London is wonderful and that spirit pushed me. From the first kilometre to the last, everybody is shouting.”

Have you ever raised money for charity? How did you do it?

Would you ever run a marathon?

What does the word ‘landmark’ mean?