Our Bureau
London
Two British Sikh runners made headlines at the 2026 London Marathon, raising thousands of pounds for charity in memory of legendary marathoner Fauja Singh.
Baldev Singh Bains, 80, and Manny Singh Kang, 52, joined an estimated 59,000 runners on Sunday in the annual race sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services. Over 19,000 spectators cheered them along the 42-kilometre route.
Bains, running the London Marathon for the first time, raised over £7,500 through GoFundMe. The money will go toward building the Fauja Singh Clubhouse, a multi-use sports club in London Borough of Redbridge, proposed by the “Sikhs in the City” charity. The clubhouse aims to improve community wellbeing. Planning permission was granted on April 1, would have been Fauja Singh’s 115th birthday.
Fauja Singh, known as the world’s oldest marathon runner, died at age 114 last July in a hit-and-run incident in his native village Beas Pind, Punjab.
Bains previously raised over £325,000 for Dementia UK through Just Giving. This time, he also supports One Humanity, a non-profit working on carbon emission reduction.
Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe won the race, finishing in just under two hours. Hugh Brasher, London Marathon Event Director, called it “truly historic,” noting the highest number of participants with disabilities and greatest diversity ever.
More than 700 runners finished as Marie Curie, the Charity of the Year, focusing on end-of-life care. The London Marathon remains one of the world’s largest annual day-long fundraising events, with TCS as title sponsor since 2022.
Bains, who runs about 15 km daily and visits Gurdwaras for worship, said running changed his life and now he gives back through charity.
