The Impact Marathon Series was born from a dream that we could use the simple power of running to uplift communities and empower runners all over the world. In 2015, we turned our dream into a reality, taking Impact Marathon to Nepal. Living in a Nepali village, we undertook the challenge of building a 5km water pipeline to the community, before lacing up our shoes and running our own race - it was then we realised we have the power to change people’s lives forever.

When the United Nations announced the 17 Global Goals in 2015, we were just starting up Impact Marathon. We looked at these Goals - the future of the planet - and were inspired by one key concept;how do you make these understandable and relatable to an individual?

What does ‘No Poverty’ mean in a Malawian fishing village? What does Gender Equality look like in Kathmandu, Nepal? To us, the Goals are huge and depict the challenge of our generation. To some, they are immeasurable and vague. To others, they are completely alien.

Throughout the Impact process, from the organisations we choose to support, to the way we engage and interact with the projects and the communities, our goal is to take the impalpable and make it real. To take our runners on a journey where they can find out what Impact really means - the direct Impact we can create, as well as how our lives indirectly have an impact that creates ripples across the world. To take a runner and make them an Impact Runner.

Over the last seven years, we have created 18 entirely unique events, which have taken us deep into the culture of some incredible countries. Impact Runners have united over a shared passion to explore new trails and a hunger to make a difference to the lives of others.

Since then, our races have raised $1.2m for grassroots organisations, tackling The Global Goals in their community.

It’s that combination of travelling to an extraordinary location, engaging in community projects that are led by the community and set to catalyse huge change whilst also knowing that you are going to be running a race that will challenge you to dig deeper than you have ever dug. 

But the glue that brings all this together is the incredible groups of Impact Runners that we have the privilege to host. When a group of positive, energised humans come together with a common purpose, not only do we achieve great things but we make great friends. We arrive as a whole load of individuals, and we finish the week as one tight community who have gone on a powerful journey together. 

In seven years, Impact Marathon has grown considerably, with races in six different countries (and more in the pipeline) and a community of over 400 runners, many of whom are already on their 2nd & 3rd races with us.