2024 Marathon March Raises over £80,000 and Counting!
A record-breaking number of Palace fans have raised over £80,000 in this year’s Marathon March, our annual fundraiser to improve the lives of young people in south London.
Bright and early on Saturday 12th October, 225 Crystal Palace fans gathered at Selhurst Park to take part in our eighth Marathon March – a 26.2 mile walk through south London, all in aid of projects supporting young people in our community.
To donate to our Marchers, head here.
Some of our Marchers early on in the challenge
On arrival, Marchers received this year’s official t-shirt, an eye-catching yellow number, inspired by Palace’s 2003/04 away kit, along with a reversible bucket hat, which proved useful when the afternoon rain rolled in!
Mark Bright after completing his eighth Marathon March
Among those returning for the eighth consecutive year was former Palace striker and Director of U21s Development, Mark Bright, who is also a Patron of Palace for Life.
Joining Mark and our local supporters were three Palace fans – Kent, Mikael, and Tomas – who flew in from Sweden especially, and not for the first time. We were thrilled to welcome back the Women’s Walking Football Team, as well as a record number of staff from the club, Palace for Life, and our headline sponsor, Utilita Giving.
Thomas, Mikael and Kent once again travelled from Sweden to take on the March
The route took our marchers through Croydon High Street, and on to parks: Wandle Park, Beddington Park, King George’s Park, and Wandsworth Park, with plenty more sights along the way.
Though the afternoon saw its share of heavy rain, our marchers powered through and crossed the finish line shortly after the skies cleared. They were greeted by players from our Down Syndrome Football Team, who handed out medals and invited everyone to take part in a lap of honour, before enjoying a well-deserved drink and dinner.
Smiles at the finish line!
We are absolutely thrilled with the turnout and can’t wait to see even more of you join us for our ninth march in October 2025. While this year’s march is over, there’s still time to help us reach our goal of £100,000. Every donation is hugely appreciated and will support three key areas of our work:
- Increasing access to free physical activities for young people
- Expanding our 1-2-1 mentoring programme
- Helping more young people into employment
A huge thank you goes to our headline sponsors Utilita Giving – who are the official charity of Utilita Energy – and help people out of fuel and food poverty.
To read more about how your donations make an impact, visit our news page or read the inspiring story of Jesse, a young person who turned things around thanks to our mentoring programme.
By donating, you’ll be helping to improve the lives of more young people like Jesse – all through the unique power of Crystal Palace.
To donate, head here.