Home

Telethon 2021 smashes fundraising record with $48 million raised and half an hour remaining in broadcast

Charlotte EltonThe West Australian
Little Telethon stars Oliver Lim and Lucy Antipas with Oliver's brother and parents George and Amelia, as well as Lucy's parents Nic and Emma. =
Camera IconLittle Telethon stars Oliver Lim and Lucy Antipas with Oliver's brother and parents George and Amelia, as well as Lucy's parents Nic and Emma. = Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West Australian

Telethon 2021 has broken its own fundraising record, reaching a whopping $48 million with half an hour remaining in the broadcast.

In 2020, Telethon raised a record $46.3 million.

Tonight, this record has toppled, after a $2.5 million from Crown brought the 2021 tally up to $48.4 million.

2021 marks the 12th consecutive year that the Telethon fundraising drive has broken the record set by the previous year.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Donations are still rolling in.

Earlier, an epic six hour cycle marathon raised $225,000 for Telethon this afternoon — and the cyclists want to do 24 hours next year.

Since 2001, Fuller Fitness Subiaco founder Matt Fuller has been doing fitness challenges for Telethon.

Today, he led a team of 30 cyclists in a six hour spin cycle at the Telethon Family Festival.

The community got involved as well, with two community bikes available for members of the public to take part.

“With the incredible support team and all the music going on and the public coming up and saying G’day it was a bit of a breeze,” Mr Fuller said.

“A lot of people want us to go back to 24 hours.”

The effort raised a mammoth $225,000 — bringing the total Mr Fuller has raised a whopping $1.6 million.

“I think we can raise $300,000 next year,” he said.

Watch the closing show live on Channel 7, and donate any time from the Telethon 7 website here.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails