Marathons are big fundraising events as runners give their charities a sporting chance. Emmet Malonereports.
It's hard to pin down just when it was that somebody first hit upon the idea of linking them running a marathon and their friends giving money to charity but one thing's for sure, it's become an awfully lucrative marriage over the past few years.
Last year's London marathon generated about €63 million, up from €27 million in 1998, and still rising fast. About three-quarters of the competitors used the race as an opportunity to generate funds for anything from their local school or pet refuge to major charities operating in fields such as international development or cancer research.
One British organisation, Cancer Research UK, has also shown the wider potential of the running boom.
Having started with a solitary race in south London in 1994, the charity attracted 700,000 women to more than 200 events across the country last year and banked about €75 million along the way.
From a charity's viewpoint, the economics of the big races are as straightforward as they are attractive.
On average, a place in the London marathon costs an organisation about €450 while each runner generated an average €3,000 in 1996.
It's no wonder then that access to the 14,000 places set aside for charity runners is the cause of some tension with many smaller organisations complaining in recent weeks that the biggest names, like Oxfam and Macmillan Cancer Support, receive too large an allocation.
The key point to remember where a race such as London is concerned is that the applications, at 125,000 last year, exceed the number of places by almost three to one, and so taking a guaranteed entry for a charity in return for raising money is one of the main ways people make it to the start line.
Although London is by far the biggest fundraiser on the international circuit, the basic principles are the same anywhere there is big demand for places.
Galway-based Irish heart charity, Croí, for instance, stands to make up to €200,000 (or close to 20 per cent of its turnover for the year) from the group of 80 Irish runners who will travel with it to New York at the beginning of November.
"From our point of view, this method of fundraising is doubly rewarding," says the organisation's chief executive, Neil Johnston.
"There's an obvious health benefit to it because 60 per cent of the people who run for us are starting out from a very low fitness level or re-igniting an interest in running that they've previously had and our experience is that the majority keep it up at least to some extent after the race is done.
"The money is obviously very important to us too but we look to do things in such a way that the people who run for us have a very good experience while the financial side of things is very transparent."
What that means is that Croí seeks to provide extensive support mechanisms to its volunteers in terms of training programmes, nutritional advice, foot assessment, etc, and holds meetings at which the runners can get to know each other.
It estimates the cost of a trip - flights, hotels, transfers and race entry, all of which are laid on - and asks the volunteer to raise twice that amount.
The hope then is that the costs come in under budget and the amounts raised far exceed the minimum promised.
For New York, each member of the travelling party is expected to raise at least €4,200 (twice the €2,100 costs involved) while those after one of the organisation's 40 places at London in April (Johnston confidently predicts the trip will be booked out well before Christmas) will have to commit to raising at least €2,250.
"Some people are reluctant to donate because they believe they are funding somebody's holiday but we would never undertake anything that didn't represent a physical challenge for the participant, the trips are really very short and, in any case, we find that the person running often covers some or all of the expenses themselves."
A significant number of Irish charities run these sort of trips to major overseas races just as around 1,500 people aiming to raise money by walking or running Dublin will arrive from the United States and Canada this month.
For many local charities, Dublin is a major focus and Temple Street Hospital is this year's designated charity.
Last year about 70 people participated for the hospital which raised about €70,000 from its involvement - a central plank of which was the Aidan Cooney challenge (the TV presenter led a large group of walkers).
"We have almost 100 people [including Cooney again] this year and we're hoping to make €100,000," says the director of the hospital's fundraising unit, Denise Fitzgerald.
"The money will go towards the €2.7 million cost of a dedicated cystic fibrosis unit while the raised awareness of the work the hospital does, not just for children from Dublin but from all over the country, is also a major benefit for us."
Increasingly, people are using the web as a tool in their own fundraising efforts.
Alan Hayes, who is running the Dublin marathon for a Sudden Adult Death Syndrome charity, maintains a blog at jedirunning.blogspot.com while Mark Scanlon is attempting to get into the Guinness Book of Records for running marathons on seven continents (doing it gets you into the Seven Continents Club) within seven months (for more, see www.777challenge.com).
For others, a relatively minor thing like running for Temple Street turns into something far more significant.
One man participated in Dublin for the hospital in 2004 and then persuaded 30 friends and neighbours to run a year later to raise money to help and support the families of children with cerebral palsy in the Clare area.
The year after that there were 70 in the group and more than €200,000 was raised. The good work has continued ever since. Tragically, Howard Flannery, the force behind the group, was killed while out cycling earlier this year.
However, the Clare Crusaders will be in Dublin again this year, remembering a friend who saw how the upshot of running a marathon could amount to a whole lot more than merely getting fit.