Our Story

GETTING KIDS MOVING SINCE 2010

The charity was founded in 2010 by Co-Founders Martine Verweij and Catherine O’Carroll, with the simple aim to provide running and exercise opportunities for primary school children, both in school time and at weekends.

It operated under the Kids Run Free brand name for a decade, before rebranding to Marathon Kids UK in 2020. The Marathon Kids UK programme consists of; Marathon Kids UK in schools, and Marathon Kids UK in parks. Both are designed to give all children an opportunity to run, move and develop a passion for sport and physical activity.

We are grateful to have been previously supported by sporting behemoth Nike for 6 years, our young Marathon Kids have been fortunate to have had the likes of Sir Mo Farah, Mark Cavendish, and David Weir attend our events in the past.

Hundreds of thousands of children have already benefited from the programme over the past decade, but we are not finished yet!