Nick Bitel appointed CEO of London Marathon Group

The Trustees of the London Marathon Foundation have announced that Nick Bitel has been appointed CEO of the London Marathon Group.  The London Marathon Group comprises the London Marathon Foundation, one of London’s biggest funders of sport and physical activity, and its trading subsidiary London Marathon Events Ltd, together with the House of Sport (which provides discounted office space to organisations working to inspire activity), M4 Events (owners of Run 4 Wales), Running High Ltd (organisers of the Bath Half), and Maverick Corp (organisers of trail running events across the UK and internationally). 

Bitel will report to the London Marathon Board of Trustees and also sit on the London Marathon Events Board of Directors. 

Sir Rodney Walker, Chair of the London Marathon Foundation, said: “The London Marathon Group has grown significantly in the last year with major acquisitions and strategic and funding partnerships now in place in collaboration with, for example, the GLA and Sport England on the Go! London fund and with parkrun to expand junior parkrun across the UK.  

“We have ambitious plans to inspire millions more people of all ages and abilities to become active and to maximise the Group’s overall social impact. The appointment of Nick Bitel as the first Group CEO and the creation of group functions across the businesses will enable us to deliver our vision for the future as we work towards the 50th London Marathon in 2030.” 

Bitel has served as CEO of London Marathon Events for more than 25 years and has long experience as board member of many leading sports organisations including Sport England (Chair 2013 – 2021) and UK Sport and he serves as a Trustee of the Wimbledon Foundation. He is recognised as one of the UK’s top sports lawyers, described by the Legal 500 as “an institution in the world of sports law”.