TCS Mini London Marathon in schools

Join us in April 2023!

Registration for the 2022 TCS Mini London Marathon in schools has now closed. We’re delighted that so many schools across the UK signed up to get their children active as part of the world’s most popular marathon.

Schools had until Friday 21 October to complete the challenge – if your school took part, thank you! We’ll be in touch with details of how to claim your pin badges.

If your school would like to join in the fun next April, you can let us know you are interested below and we’ll notify you when registration opens.

Team GB Olympic Athlete Jake Wightman visits Heathmere Primary School

A challenge for everyone – for all abilities

The TCS Mini London Marathon in schools challenge is for children to run, jog, walk or wheel 2.6 miles in their school. The 2022 event took place between Monday 26 September and Friday 21 October – around the time of the TCS London Marathon on Sunday 2 October 2022.

The aim of the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools is to inspire your whole school to be active by deciding exactly how to meet the challenge. Do the whole distance in one go or break it up into smaller chunks and complete 2.6 miles over a week or more. It’s completely up to you – the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools is for everyone!

In 2021, more than 500,000 children were registered to take part in the event, with schools from every region of the UK joining the fun. This year, even more children took on the challenge – more than 600,000! – and felt the benefits of being active and healthy.

We provide lots of free resources for schools and every participant receives a free TCS Mini London Marathon in schools pin badge.

Inspiring activity

The TCS Mini London Marathon in schools is all about inspiring children and young people of all ages and abilities to be physically active. Regular exercise has a positive impact on children’s physical health and mental wellbeing and can help start a habit that stays with them for the rest of their lives!

Resources for your school

Please swipe to see more

Raise funds for a good cause

Why not turn the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools into a fundraising event? In 2021, schools raised more than £250,000 for good causes, including improvements to school playgrounds, extra money for PE equipment or support for national or local charities. You can use your own fundraising platform if you have one already or look at how Enthuse, our fundraising partner, can help you raise money for some well-known charities, like the World Wildlife Fund or UNICEF.

Find out more about fundraising with Enthuse

FAQs

Registration for the 2022 event has now closed, but you can let us know if your school would like to take part in 2023 here. If your school has taken part this year, you will receive an email inviting you to confirm the actual number of children who took part before the end of October.
A PTA can register, as long as a member of the school staff is involved in the planning for the event. The school address will need to be provided when you register.
We’d like children to get out of breath if they can, as this is what helps them become fitter and healthier. Some children might run the whole time, others might jog or slow down to get their breath back.

Children with disabilities can complete the event in a way that meets their needs – whether that’s walking, pushing themselves, being pushed, walking with crutches, or in whatever other way they can. The TCS Mini London Marathon in schools is for all children and young people!
You can measure the exact distance if you want to and if you have time. If not, feel free to use a rough estimate of the distance. The most important thing is that children are getting out of breath and feel the benefits of physical activity.

If your school does The Daily Mile (15 minutes of jogging or running) then, as a rough guide, completing three ‘Daily Miles’ counts as completing the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools.
You can use the resources to help make a splash in your school. Put up posters all around the school and print off participant bib numbers for everyone to wear. We love to see your pictures on social media – share them using #MiniLondonMarathon. You could also fundraise for a charity or the school and get the whole community involved.
The TCS Mini London Marathon in schools is for UK schools to enter and complete during the school day, so parents/carers are not able to register their children. We would encourage parents and carers to speak to their school though and ask them to take part.
The mass 2022 TCS Mini London London Marathon took place on Saturday 2 October – and was just the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the event. Next year the TCS Mini London Marathon will take place on Saturday 22 April, the day before the TCS London Marathon – find out more here.
Once you are registered, you can start planning the event in your school. The resources will soon have everything you need to download for free – participant bib numbers for the children and posters to spread the word. Decide where and when the children will be completing their 2.6 miles – remember that you can do this over one day, two days, three days or more, depending on the ages and abilities of the children. Think about whether you want to raise funds for your school or a charity and head to the fundraising section to find out more – spread the word to your school community!
When all your children have completed the event, you will receive an email from us before the end of October asking you to confirm the number of children who participated. We will then send a TCS Mini London Marathon in schools pin badge to those who were among the first 600,000 children who registered and then completed the event. You can also download and print off a certificate for all children who took part.
It does. You can do The Daily Mile as you normally would – 15 minutes of jogging or running at their own pace counts as one mile. If you complete The Daily Mile three times then that is roughly equivalent to completing the 2.6 miles of the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools. If your school wants to find out more about The Daily Mile, please click here.
We will send out pin badges to 600,000 children – these will be sent to schools that registered first and then went on to complete the event. We will aim to send these out to you by the end of November 2022 and will contact you to let you know if there is any delay.
Any school in the UK can take part.