The Impact Marathon Series are races for those who think differently, run for the good of others and dream they can leave an impact.
Founded in 2015 by Nick Kershaw and Matt Fenton, IMS organizes races in four developing locations: Nepal, Malawi, Colombia and Guatemala.
Like many more mainstream marathon companies IMS encourage runners to fundraise beforehand. However they ask runners to raise funds for one of the United Nations’ Global Goals directly relating to the location of their race – for example, charities focusing on Gender Equality in Nepal.
Runners then fly out to the race location a week before the marathon and complete two days of voluntary work directly relating to their selected Global Goal – in the above case, for example, providing support in a Nepalese burns unit. By doing so, participants get to see exactly how their fundraising helps and even get involved themselves via aid-work, thereby making a direct impact.
IMS aims to provide a synthesis between travel, running and voluntary work. By harnessing the power of running they believe runners can make a real difference to the developing world.
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Impact Marathon Series is currently holding a competition to win FREE FLIGHTS to Nepal* and FREE RACE ENTRY to the Nepal Impact Marathon this coming November.
You can enter the competition by selecting the link below:
https://run.impactmarathon.com/nepalcomp/
You can them across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – just search Impact Marathons.
Author: Sam Heague, NEPAL IMPACT MARATHON
The IMPACT MARATHON SERIES is a for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They did not pay for this post.
Last Updated on 16 January 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.
