Virgin to sponsor London Marathon

Updated 10.31 Fri May 16 2008

Keywords: Sir richard Branson, London marathon, Virgin Money

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money has signed a £17 million deal to become the next official sponsor of the London Marathon.

Virgin Money, the group's financial services division, will take over from the current sponsor, Flora, from 2010.

The London Marathon raised a record £46.5m raised for good causes in 2007

Sir Richard said: "I'm delighted that Virgin will be sponsoring the London Marathon. It's an epic and inspirational event and raises a fantastic amount of money for great causes.

"It's the single biggest fundraising day on the planet and we want to make it even bigger, our aim is to help runners smash a quarter of a billion pounds in five years."

The London Marathon raised a record £46.5 million for good causes in 2007.

Since the race began in 1981, more than 700,000 participants have raised more than £400 million for charity.

The 2009 event has already received over 110,000 UK applications for the public ballot.