Hundreds of Crystal Palace fans are expected to line the streets of London this weekend as the Palace for Life Foundation’s Marathon March targets the £1million landmark in its 10th edition.
Over 320 people have signed up, a record number, and the money raised is already approaching £100,000, with all proceeds going towards helping young people in South London.
Since the first march in 2017, the Foundation has raised in excess of £850,000 across nine events and the target is to reach seven figures by the time the final marcher crosses the finish line on Saturday.
“It gives us something to really hang our hat on, like, ‘right, we raised £1,000,000 in 10 years, what can we do in the next 10 years?’” fundraising manager Bobby Webbe said.
“It’s very exciting and we’re well on the way to doing that at the moment, which is really cool.”
Palace for Life, the official charity partner of Premier League football club Crystal Palace, support over 20,000 young people in South London every year through free community football sessions, work in local schools and by helping increase employment rates.
According to the Office for National Statistics, London’s unemployment rate stood at 6.5% between March and May, the highest of any region in the UK. With people with learning disabilities facing significant barriers to employment, increasing the number of people in work is a big area of focus for the Foundation.
“Croydon is a very young borough, and it’s also, in a negative way, outsized, with the amount of young people that are not in education and not in full-time employment,” Webbe said.
“One of our key targets is to get young people into work, which we hope then will start to solve other issues in Croydon around knife crime, gang culture.
“When young people have an income, they have a purpose and can work towards those goals.”
While the Foundation relies on funding from sources such as the Premier League, that money is often restricted and allocated to certain, specific areas.
Income from their own fundraising events, such as the march, allows them greater flexibility to meet the unique demands of their network.
“I’m very lucky I’m a Palace fan, I live in Croydon, it’s where I’ve grown up, so I get to see our work going back in,” said Webbe.
“I try to get out to sessions as much as possible because sometimes you can get stuck behind a desk and you’re just focused on your work.
“I went to one a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t kicked a ball in two or three years, and I got involved, just having a proper kick around, and seeing them there on a Monday night rather than being anywhere else around South London was really rewarding.
“It gives you a spring in your step the next day you’re at work knowing that was great, and the work we’re doing is to try and bolster that.”
This Saturday’s march will start with breakfast rolls at Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace, from around 6am, before walkers tackle the 26.2-mile route around South London.
After passing through Croydon, walkers will stop for a coffee and a snack in Beddington Park, before a hot lunch is served on Fulham Bridge, with an ice cream van also booked.
Another refreshment break at Henry’s Coffee Stop in Balham signals the start of the final push back to Selhurst Park, where walkers will undertake a lap of honour around the pitch, with a DJ getting the party going.
The Foundation is hoping the friendly between Crystal Palace and Bristol City held at Selhurst Park during the day will increase the number of people greeting marchers at the finish line, where members of Palace for Life’s Down syndrome football team, the DS Eagles, will hand out medals and kick off the celebrations.
“Seeing the joy that they’re bringing to the event and the joy that the walkers get, it gives you goosebumps, it’s brilliant,” Webbe said.
“It’s a real clear reminder to the walkers of why they’re raising money for us, they can see the opportunity and the fun that the DS Eagles are having just on that day, let alone in the sessions that we run for them as well.”
Frequent walkers include Crystal Palace legend Mark Bright, a Foundation patron and one of nine people who’ll be completing their tenth march, and Andy Johnson, another patron and former Palace star.
Crystal Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish is one of a number of high-profile names to have taken on the challenge, and this year’s cohort will include Paul Cleal OBE, Palace for Life chair, CEO Mike Summers and former Palace women’s player Fliss Gibbons.
Alongside supporting the event through access to the stadium facilities, including the changing rooms, members of staff at the UEFA Conference League champions regularly participate in the march, a touch Webbe believes strengthens their bond with fans.
“I think that elevates the event because Palace fans that have signed up then get to meet people that actually work at the club and can just chat, and it’s quite a nice way of making the club feel more human,” he explained.
A remote option is available, where people who cannot make it to South London design and complete their own marathon route – an innovation that was first introduced during Covid for a couple whose annual trip from Sweden was interrupted by the pandemic.
Comedian Eddie Izzard once completed the march in the early hours of the Los Angeles morning, and a couple more will put themselves through their paces from the States this year, as well as one entrant from Durham.
While last year’s record of 251 marchers has already been beaten, the fundraising best of around £131,769.87 is also on track to be bettered for the second year running.
Into its 10th year of raising money and changing South London for good, the march is showing no signs of slowing down.
“It’s 100% got more popular since I started,” Webbe added.
“I think that’s credit to the support the club gives us and the way the Foundation and the quality of our output has grown.”
You can donate to the Palace for Life Foundation’s Marathon March here.
Featured image credit: Palace for Life Foundation
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