Great Scottish Run: Glasgow charities speak of financial impact of cancelled event

The event - which raises hundreds of thousands of pounds for Scottish charities every year - was due to take place on Sunday, October 3.

But organisers decided to pull the plug on the 2021 marathons yesterday due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19.

Organisations that normally benefit financially from the day of fundraising have described the blow as "incredibly disappointing". 

Funds raised for Marie Curie - a charity that offers help and support to people with terminal illnesses and their families - would normally cover the cost of operating their Glasgow hospice for 24 hours.  

Debbie Mooney, Head of Fundraising, said: “In the current climate, charities have felt the pinch with fundraising events being cancelled. Not only have we had to adapt the way we fundraise, but we’ve also become more reliant on individual running fundraisers who are in a position to fundraise safely within Covid-19 guidelines.

“Naturally, it is disappointing the Great Scottish Run has been cancelled. We usually raise in the region of £10,000 from the event, which is what it costs to operate our Glasgow Hospice for 24 hours."

Other charities highlighted the financial loss already suffered from events cancelled in the past year due to the pandemic. 

Calum McNair, Challenges Fundraiser for the Beatson Cancer Charity, said: “We benefit a lot from it financially and we get a good showing at it too.

“Due to this loss, we don’t want to lose out on tens of thousands of pounds so we are looking at new ways to fundraise. It is normally one of the biggest events that we get a lot of money from but Covid has impacted a lot of things and a lot of other charities that get to take part too."

Rhona Baillie, Chief Executive of The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, added: "As a charity, we rely on people’s generosity and fundraising to operate the hospice, which provides the highest standard of care to people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses and their families.

“Over the past year and a half, supporters have been unable to fundraise in their usual ways and we saw our income from fundraising diminish by almost £1million."

Ian Lulham, Head of Challenge Events at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "We know how incredibly disappointing it is for everyone who has been training and fundraising when an event is cancelled. We hope our runners will still support us and run virtually for us - we will still be with them every step of the way.  

“The postponement and cancellation of fundraising events will have a real impact on all charities, including Macmillan. We are doing everything we can to limit the impact of this on our services, and our number one priority is to continue to support people with cancer in every way we can.” 

All charities have since introduced alternative fundraising events, which can be found on each of the services' websites. 

Runners who had purchased a place in this year's Great Scottish Run will have their tickets rolled over to 2022. 

Chief Executive, Paul Foster said: “Unfortunately, we will not be able to stage the Great Scottish Run as planned in October.

“Currently, Level 0 guidance means events of the scale of the Great Scottish Run would be logistically unworkable.”

“Although we do not anticipate Level 0 being in place in October, the timelines for planning and marketing the event demand much more certainty around timelines and future guidance than we currently have.

"As no cancellation insurance is currently available for large scale events, we have to make a judgement based on the information we have right now and the potential risk of having to make significant changes, or even cancelling in the future.”

“We’re sorry that this means some runners will be disappointed but everyone who has already purchased a place in the event will be automatically rolled over to 2022, anyone who can’t make the 2022 date can apply for a refund.”