The Greatest of These Is Charity

Considering the Future of Running and Charity Giving

"Charity running is a major economic force," said USATF CEO Craig Masback, announcing the new awards at the Boston Marathon in April. "In it Americans promote fitness as well as charitable giving. It transforms a sport that is individual in nature into a phenomenon with a wide-reaching, positive effect on society."

The figures justify the claim. The London Marathon, which in 1993 became the first major race to give special entry privileges to charity runners, raises $52 million each April for thousands of charities. A preliminary USATF survey concluded that American runners raised more than $520 million for charity in 2002. Events dedicated wholly to causes, like the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure series, are social happenings on an unprecedented scale. Programs like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training recruit and coach thousands of novice runners every year.

There is very much to celebrate in this "phenomenon," as Masback justly calls it. It brings people into running, raises the media and public profile of running, and makes philanthropic giving possible for a wider cross-section of society than ever before. It enables runners to link their sport with causes, sometimes quite personal, like their local library or an illness suffered by a family member.

There is also much that needs to be thought about. Charity running indeed "transforms" a major world sport, but Masback did not expand on how, or give evidence that the transformation is wholly to the benefit of running. The sport has an obligation to debate the implications. The charities, which benefit hugely from running, have an equal obligation to consider how they are affecting this miraculous source of wealth.

We join this debate, in full cognizance of the profound contribution to human good that our sport makes through this alliance, yet equally aware of the rumble of complaints and concerns, from those who call this their sport, about the nature of this transformation it is undergoing. If running is the goose that lays 520 million golden eggs a year in America alone, we must be sure it is not being forced into intensive laying, only to be left to die if its egg-producing capacity declines.

Or perhaps the goose is being transformed into a turkey? At the 2002 London Marathon, Khalid Khannouchi broke the world record and Paula Radcliffe ran the best women’s-only time. Coverage in Britain was good, but overshadowed by a man who plodded the course in a deep-sea diving suit. He took five days, got saturation coverage, and raised a lot of money for a good cause.

A Means to an End

For some of us, running for dollars rather than love taints the activity, be the money for yourself or a worthwhile cause. We, for whom running is one of the highlights of each day, find the thought of asking someone to sponsor us to run a marathon as incongruous as asking for money to travel to Hawaii to surf, snorkel and sunbathe ... for a good cause, of course.