The Virgin London Marathon entry ballot for 2010 (which was limited to 120,000 runners) has been completed after two days and 16 hours - beating the previous record by over 15 days. The marathon's 14 year sponsorship deal with Flora has also come to an end.

Virgin Money (the financial services division of the Virgin Group) will now lead the sponsorship for the annual fundraising spectacular and hope to encourage runners to raise over £¼ billion during the five year term of its sponsorship.

Despite the ballot for places closing in record time there are still ways to enter for 2010.

People wishing to run for a charity dear to their heart may still be able to do so. Many major charities will have a set number of entry places in the Virgin London Marathon each year. They will allocate these places to runners on the basis that they will raise an agreed amount of money for the charity. For more information potential participants should visit www.virginlondonmarathon.com/raising-money.

There are usually more runners interested in running for each charity than there are charity places available, so the charities will select their runners based on the runner's connection with the good cause and how much money they are realistically able to raise for the charity.

The 2010 Virgin London Marathon will take place on Sunday 25th April. For more information go to: www.virginlondonmarathon.com

And if you're planning to raise money from running, don't forget to check ouit our running events how2guide before you start!