The series is known as the Abbott World Marathon Majors and comprises the London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, Tokyo and Boston marathons. Series XI ran between April 2017 and April 2018. Professor Betts’ average time across the series was 2 hours and 41 minutes. It also made him the 8th fastest overall finisher of all six marathons. 

Professor Betts was running the marathons to raise money for Asylum Welcome, an Oxford-based refugee charity, and has now raised over £2,000. He wrote about the series, his motivation for running, and the links to his day job in a piece about the London Marathon published in Sunday's Observer.

Alexander Betts is Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs at ODID.