EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SEVENTH MARATHON MARCH
Our seventh annual Marathon March is taking place this weekend, helping to raise money to help transform the lives of young south Londoners. Here's everything you need to know.
Our seventh March – sponsored by Utilita Giving – is starting and finishing at our home, Selhurst Park via the sites and sounds and of south London.
It’s a record-breaking year, with 200 walkers signed up – including club legends Andrew Johnson and Mark Bright – who will take on the 26.2 mile walk before getting stuck into a Palace party at the end.
If you’re not taking part this year, you can still support our Marchers with a donation. You can donate here.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Every year, our Marathon March brings together Palace fans, legends, and local people to help raise money for us to help even more young south Londoners.
Anyone can take part, and it’s not a competitive challenge, it’s a chance to chat all things Palace, make new friends, and support the local community.
WHERE DO DONATIONS GO?
For the six years it has been running, our amazing Marchers have raised a whopping half a million pounds for youngsters in south London.
Every year, our walkers do an incredible job of fundraising – this year, we’re aiming to raise more than ever. Donations will go towards three key areas of our work:
- Keep more young people away from knife crime, violence, and anti-social behaviour
- Help more young people with finding career and job opportunities
- Support more young people with their mental and physical health
Your amazing support helps people like Ishmael, a young south Londoner who suffered from emotional trauma, to turn things around. Read about how he went from getting excluded from school, to becoming a mentor to younger pupils in his school and how he started his own clothing brand.
WHEN AND WHERE DOES IT TAKE PLACE?
The Marathon March will take place this Saturday, 14th October 2023, starting at Selhurst Park, taking participants on a 26.2-mile walk around south London, and then ending with a lap of the pitch.
Participants are due to arrive at Selhurst from 07:00 BST in the morning, leaving the stadium between 08:00 and 08:30.
The first finishers are likely to arrive back around 16:00, with the subsequent party beginning at Selhurst soon after.
WHERE DOES THE MARCH GO?
The 2023 Marathon March route encompasses a number of south London landmarks, taking walkers through the heart of areas including Streatham, Battersea and Croydon, as well as past AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane and over Wandsworth Bridge.
Check out the route reveal!
WHO IS TAKING PART?
Among the nearly-200 members of the Crystal Palace community taking part are returning club legends Andrew Johnson and Mark Bright, both veterans of the Marathon March scene.
Eddie Izzard, meanwhile, will once again be joining in from afar – this year, 4,500 miles away in Los Angeles – having previously completed the equivalent distance in Toronto, Canada in 2021 and Sheffield in 2022. This year marks her fifth time tackling the Marathon March.
Eddie will even be starting the March at midnight to account for the eight-hour time difference between LA and south London.
On taking part in her fifth March, Eddie said: “I am very happy to be able to do a marathon each year, to be able do my bit to help kids in South London.
“I think it would make my auntie Bea very happy as well. She lived at 177 Whitehorse Lane, was my mum’s older sister and was often like a surrogate mother to my mum. Mum died when me and my brother were very young, so Auntie Bea and Whitehorse Lane meant a lot to us.”
WHAT DO PARTICIPANTS GET?
As well as completing a personal challenge, participants will also receive a Marathon March t-shirt and finishers’ medal, as well as a training programme created by Palace fan and personal trainer Beulah Pickles.
They will also be in with a chance of winning a Matheus França-signed version of their shirt!
What’s more, a special Marathon March menu – breakfast, lunch and dinner – will be keeping fuelled those taking on the challenge; walkers can find out more here.
Most importantly, however, all participants have committed to raising a minimum of £300 each in sponsorship, and so will be taking part having already made a massive difference to a range of good causes.
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
We welcome everyone to the Marathon March – so if you’re not taking part, come along, stand alongside the route, and lend your support to our fantastic walkers!
Want to show further support? Click the button below to donate – or, if you have any queries, please contact the Palace for Life fundraising team (fundraising@palaceforlife.org).
South London is a diverse community with hundreds of thousands of talented young people who, given the right opportunities, will contribute so much to the future of our city.
Your donations will directly support our work and make a real impact, for real people. Thank you.