Over the next couple of months you can expect some great Virgin London Marathon-related content from JustGiving, including charities who are looking for ballot place runners and charities offering “Golden Bond” places. Here’s a quick example of the latter.

The Telegraph has teamed up with the Brain & Spine Foundation to offer 15 readers a place on The Daily Telegraph Brain & Spine Foundation Team. They’re looking for runners of all abilities: the most important quality is the drive and deteremination to raise money for the charity.

To apply, write a cover letter explaining in no more than 100 words - they’re expecting a total of 100 people in the team this year, you see - why you’d like to run for the Brain & Spine Foundation and then send it to:

Sarah Himelfield
Brain and Spine Foundation
3.36 Canterbury Court
Kennington Park
1-3 Brixton Road
London SW9 6DE.

or e-mail:

sarah.himelfield@brainandspine.org.uk

The closing date is Friday, 4th December.

The Brain and Spine Foundation aims to maximise the quality of life for people with neurological disorders and to reduce neurological disability by providing a national focus for research, education and information.

You can view the full benefits of running for the team in the original Telegraph article here, and you can donate to the Brain & Spine Foundation directly here.

Here’s a great team event for BBC Children in Need this Friday (17th November).

Between 9:00 PM on Thursday and 9:00 PM on Friday, runners from the Leigh Cricket, Tennis, & Bowling Club, led by local solicitor John Bullough, will be taking part in a 24 hour relay around their cricket field, with each runner completing four separate one hour sessions. The organisers hope the event will prove as successful an identical one they ran for the charity 25 years ago.

In case you didn’t know, BBC Children in Need helps to positively change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

What we really like about this event is it’s accesiblilty: you don’t have to be a marathon runner to take part.

You can view the club’s JustGiving page and make a donation here.

Maybe a high-flying job like working for NATO at the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanager, Norway makes ultra events seem relatively mundane. That certainly seems to be the case for regular ultramarathon runner Jay Turner. The rest of us, however, might think Jay a bit mad, especially as on Thursday (19th November) he’s planning on running 100 miles in 24 hours.

Jay’s goal is to raise £100 for every mile he runs, making a grand total of £10,000 for his chosen charity, World Vision.  World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy charity dedicated to working with children, families and communities all over the world to overcome poverty and injustice.

What we really liked about Jay’s JustGiving page - apart from the fact that he’s rising to such an amazing challenge - is that he’s worked out a deal with BAM bamboo clothing whereby his supporters can use a promotional code to get 10% off BAM products and BAM will donate 10% of any sales to World Vision. It’s this kind of added incentive that can really boost your fundraising.

You can view Jay’s JustGiving page and make a donation here.

We spoke to Jay and he told us he had some unfinished business with this particular challenge. This is what happened when JG met JT:

JustGiving: What possessed you to run 100 miles in 24 hours?

Jay Turner: I ran the Marathon des Sables - 150 miles across the Sahara Desert over 6 days - back in 1999. After this, in 2002, I led a team of five people in the first ever unsupported crossing of the 120 mile Qatar Desert . It took 80 hours with just 4 hours sleep!  I ran a number of other ultra events before deciding it was time to give my wife a break and try something which didn’t take me quite so far from home and hence the idea of 100 miles in 24 hours was born.  I attempted this in 2003 but only made it to the 70 mile point so it’s very much unfinished business.

JG: Have you done any special training to prepare for the event?

JT: Lots of running! More specifically, two 31 mile runs, two 25 mile runs, four 20 mile runs and lots and lots of shorter runs.  I also cycle to work every day  and do lots of pilates for my core strength.  I also like to include drinking to excess from time to time in my training, it helps maintain my motivation!

JG: Why have you chosen to donate to World Vision?

JT: My family has sponsored a child through World Vision for over 10 years now. I admire the work they do and really believe they make a difference to peoples lives, so like to support them whenever I can.

JG: What would be your top fundraising tip?

JT: Be persistent and write to anyone and everyone you need.

JG: Is there anything in particular you like about JustGiving?

JT:  The ease of donating is a winner for me. It takes away the hassle of collecting the money and I like to claw back the Gift Aid from the government!

Congratulations to Melanie Moore who sent us this picture of her family’s Guy. We particularly liked the homemade, but well dressed looked as well as the surprisingly accurate rendering of Guy Fawkes face in black marker pen.

Melanie chose to donate the £50 prize to Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International, which is a small charity dedicated to improving the health care and survival rates of babies, mothers and children in developing countries. MCAI helps poor communities by training doctors, nurses and local health providers in emergency life saving skills, refurbishing children’s wards and providing essential equipment.

Congratulations again Melanie!

Another day, another amazing JustGiver.

Here at JG Towers we’ve just heard about 63-year-old Valerie Johnson who not only beat bowel cancer in 2001, but has also just completed the ING New York Marathon raising £2000 for Bowel Cancer UK.

Val had this to say about why she chose to run for Bowel Cancer UK:

I was fortunate in having an early diagnosis and a successful operation to remove the tumour. I had a great team of people looking after me at my local hospital and will always be grateful to them for their care and attention. My message to everyone is not to ignore any symptoms, however simple or irrelevant they may seem, as an early diagnosis could mean saving your life.

She also admits that while she told everyone she just wanted to finish the race, secretly she wanted to finish in under seven hours, which she did coming in at six hours, 49 minutes. Congratulations Valerie!

You can view Val’s JustGiving page and make a donation here.

Your supporters want to know how you got on, so if you ran a marathon, for example, let them know your finishing time. Or, if for some reason the event didn’t go exactly as planned, let them know why.

Similarly, the more photos and videos you upload, the better. You never know, you might even elicit some extra donations.

Also, if someone stumbles upon your JustGiving page after the event, they might be less inclined to makje a retrospective donation if the page looks unfinished.