Table Of Contents
The London Marathon is the hardest big-city marathon in the world to get into. More people apply for its ballot than for any other race on the planet, and the gap is not closing.
Over 1.3 million people applied for the most recent race. Most of them will never receive the acceptance email.
This guide explains how the ballot actually works, what your true chances are, why the headline odds are misleading, and every legitimate route onto the start line if the draw does not go your way. The mechanics in this guide stay the same year after year. The current numbers, fees, and dates all sit in one clearly marked section near the end, refreshed after every ballot.
London Marathon ballot At A glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Cost to apply | Free |
| Who can apply | Anyone aged 18 or over, worldwide |
| Qualifying time needed | None |
| When applications open | Late April, in the week of the race |
| How long does the window stay open | About one week |
| When results arrive | Early July, by email |
| Headline odds | Around 1 in 13 against the full field |
| True ballot-only odds | Considerably longer; see below |
How the ballot works
The ballot is a free public draw. Anyone aged 18 or over can apply, from anywhere in the world, and no qualifying time is required. It is the only route into the race that asks nothing of you except an application form.
The window is short, and it does not reopen. Applications open in late April, in the same week as the current year’s race, and close about one week later. Miss it, and you wait a full year.
You pay nothing to apply. You only pay the entry fee if you are drawn. Results go out by email in early July, so check your junk folder before assuming the worst.
The draw is random. There is no weighting for Age, nationality, speed, or previous attempts.
Your true odds: the honest mathematics
The headline calculation looks simple. Divide the total race field by the number of applicants, and you get odds of roughly one in thirteen.
The true odds of the ballot are meaningfully worse, and it is important to understand why.
Not all places in the field are allocated through the public draw. Charity partners hold the largest block, and around half of all runners get their place that way. Good for Age takes several thousand places. Championship entry, club allocations, international tour operators, community programmes, and the elite fields all take their share before the ballot receives what remains.
The organisers do not publish the exact ballot allocation. Independent ballot trackers estimate it at around 20,000 places in recent years; with the expanded two-day field, some current commentary suggests the figure may now be closer to 35,000–37,000. If either estimate is broadly right, the true odds for a standard ballot entry remain far longer than the headline one-in-thirteen figure.
That is not a reason to skip the ballot. It costs nothing, and somebody wins it. It is a reason not to build your marathon dream on it.
Treat the ballot as a lottery ticket, not a plan.
The Only Two Things That Improve Your Chances
There are exactly two levers inside the ballot. Everything else you may have read is a myth.
The second-chance draw. UK applicants can choose to donate at the point of application. This puts them into a second draw if they miss the first, and those selected through it do not pay the full entry fee on top of that. Taking this option roughly doubles a UK applicant’s chances.
Persistence. There is no loyalty scheme and no rollover. Previous rejections do not improve your odds because every year is a fresh random draw. However, entering every single year is the only way to keep buying the ticket, and many runners are drawn within three to five years simply by never missing a window.
The myths are worth naming plainly. Applying at a certain time of day does not help. Applying early or late in the window does not help. Your postcode does not matter. The draw is random.
Every Route Into The London Marathon
The ballot is one of eight doors. Serious applicants work several of them at once.
| Route | Who It Suits | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Public ballot | Everyone | Pure luck |
| Good for Age | Fast UK runners | Fast marathon time |
| Championship | Very fast club runners | Near-elite time |
| Charity | Committed fundraisers | Four-figure fundraising target |
| Club allocation | UKA club members | Patience |
| School and community | London staff and volunteers | Right workplace |
| Tour operators | International runners | Travel package cost |
| Virtual (MyWay) | Anyone, anywhere | Run the distance remotely |
Good for Age: the route for fast runners
If you can run a fast marathon, Good for Age is the most reliable route in. It is open to UK residents only.
Several thousand places are reserved for it each year, split evenly between men and women.
The standards are serious, and they have been tightening. As a benchmark, men aged 18 to 39 have recently needed under 2 hours 52 minutes, and women in the same age band under 3 hours 38 minutes. The bands relax with Age, all the way to the 90-and-over category. Check the current standards for your band before you plan a qualifying race, because they move.
The fine print matters, so here it is in full.
Your qualifying time must be recorded within the designated window, typically from 1 October to 30 September of the year before the race. The event must be an in-person race on a course certified by UK Athletics, AIMS, or the national governing body of the country in which it was held. Virtual events do not count.
The time is based on your Age when you ran it, not your Age on marathon day.
You will need proof. That means a results page showing your name, date and time, proof of Age, and proof of UK residence.
Moreover, here is the trap that catches runners every year. Meeting the qualifying time does not guarantee a place. It only earns you the right to apply. Places are allocated fastest first within each Age and gender band, so if more runners qualify than there are places, the slowest qualifiers miss out.
The organisers’ own advice is sound. If your time is within ten minutes of the standard, enter the ballot as well. The routes are not mutually exclusive, and if you win a Good for Age place, you are automatically removed from the ballot.
Good for Age places cannot be deferred, so you qualify for the year you intend to run.
Championship entry: the route for the seriously quick
Above Good for Age sits Championship entry, a small allocation for near-elite club runners, split evenly between men and women.
The standards are demanding. Men have recently needed a marathon under 2:38 or a half-marathon under 1:11:30. Women have needed a marathon under 3:10 or a half-marathon under 1:26:00. A half-marathon time only counts if you have never run a full marathon.
Championship entry requires membership of a club affiliated to UK Athletics, and times must come from certified courses. If applications exceed the cap, allocation proceeds on a first-come, first-served basis, and unsuccessful Championship applicants are moved into Good for Age consideration rather than rejected outright.
One deterrent worth knowing. Falsifying a qualifying time carries a ban of up to five years from London Marathon events, and a lifetime ban for a second offence.
Charity places: the widest door
Charity is the biggest route into the London Marathon. Around half of all runners get their place this way, and the race is consistently the largest single-day fundraising event in the world, raising tens of millions of pounds every year.
Hundreds of charities offer places, spanning causes from cancer research and mental health to children’s charities and local community groups. The event also names an official Charity of the Year each cycle.
The trade is fundraising. Minimum targets typically start at around £2,200 and rise to over £3,000 for the most in-demand charities. A charity can withdraw a place if a runner falls well short of the target, so the commitment is real.
Treat the fundraising like a second training plan. Start early, tell your story well, and spread the asking across months rather than cramming it into race week.
Timing matters more than most applicants realise. Apply directly through your chosen charity’s website in the summer, immediately after ballot results land. The best-known charities fill their teams within weeks of the rejection emails going out, because a million disappointed applicants all have the same idea.
Club places: the patient route
Running clubs affiliated to UK Athletics receive a guaranteed allocation each year, scaled to their size. Mid-sized clubs receive one entry, the largest clubs receive two, and the smallest clubs go into a separate club ballot for a shared pool of places.
Each club decides internally how to distribute what it gets. Most use a members’ ballot, an attendance system, or points earned by racing in club colours.
Joining a club purely to chase a London bib rarely pays off in year one. However, committed club runners usually secure a place within two or three years, and the training partners, coached sessions, and race discounts make membership worthwhile in its own right.
School and community places
Every school in London receives guaranteed entries reserved for teachers and staff, and London boroughs along the route receive entries earmarked for local charities and grassroots community groups.
These places are limited and targeted. However, if you work at a London school or volunteer with a community organisation near the course, your organisation may well have a place to allocate. It costs nothing to ask.
Routes for international runners
International applicants face the longest odds of all. The ballot is open worldwide, but successful international entrants pay a significantly higher entry fee, and the Good for Age, Championship, club, and most charity routes are UK-only.
The dedicated route is the official tour operator programme. Licensed operators in many countries hold guaranteed race entries bundled with flights, hotels, and race-weekend support. The package costs more than a bare entry, but for a runner planning a trip to London anyway, it converts an impossible draw into a bookable purchase.
The other international option is the virtual race, covered next.
The virtual option: TCS London Marathon MyWay
If the start line in London stays out of reach, the official virtual race lets you run the full 26.2 miles on any course of your choosing, anywhere in the world, during race weekend.
You receive an official time, a medal, and a finisher’s shirt. It is not the same as turning onto The Mall with the crowd roaring. It is still a London Marathon finish on your record.
The stacking strategy: how runners actually get in
Ask experienced runners how they got their London place, and a pattern emerges. Almost nobody relies on a single route. The realistic plan is a multi-year stack.
Enter the ballot every year without fail, and take the second-chance option if you are a UK resident. It is the cheapest lottery ticket in running.
Pursue a Good-for-Age time if your legs allow. If you are within striking distance of your age band’s standard, target a flat-certified course within the qualifying window.
Keep a charity application ready as your parallel track, not your last resort. The strongest charity teams fill fast, so apply in July rather than January.
Join a club for the long game. The bib may take two or three years, but the training will make you faster in the meantime, which feeds the Good for Age route.
Work one route at a time, and the wait can stretch to a decade. Work them all in parallel, and most committed runners are on the start line within three years.
The latest ballot: facts and figures
This section is updated each July when results are announced. All figures below relate to the 2027 race.
The 2027 ballot set a world record for any marathon, drawing 1,338,544 applications for a field of 100,000 runners. Demand has been accelerating sharply: the 2026 ballot drew about 1.13 million applications, and the 2025 ballot about 840,000.
The 2027 race is the first London Marathon to be staged over two days, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April, with 45,000 runners on Saturday and 55,000 on Sunday. The expansion to 100,000 places was meant to widen access. Demand rose to meet it, and the odds barely moved.
The 2027 ballot opened at 9 am on Friday, 24 April 2026 and closed at 4 pm on Friday, 1 May 2026. Results were emailed in the second week of July 2026.
Current fees: successful UK entrants pay £79.99, and international entrants pay £225. The UK second-chance donation is £49.99.
The official Charity of the Year for 2027 is the National Autistic Society, and for the first time, charity runners have the option to run on the Saturday.
Trivia
The first London Marathon in 1981 had 6,255 finishers. More people now apply to the ballot in a single year than finished the race in its first two decades combined. Moreover, the 2026 edition rewrote history differently, when Sabastian Sawe of Kenya produced the first sub-two-hour marathon ever recorded in an official race, while Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia set a women ’s-only world record of 2 hours 15 minutes on the same day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does entering the ballot cost money?
No. Applying is free. You only pay the entry fee if you are offered a place.
What are my actual odds in the ballot?
Against the full field, around one in thirteen. However, most places are allocated through charity, Good for Age, and other routes first, so the true odds of a standard ballot entry are estimated at one in thirty-five to one in seventy, depending on the year’s allocation.
Do my odds improve if I have been rejected before?
No. There is no rollover or loyalty system. Every year is a fresh random draw.
What is the second-chance draw?
UK applicants can donate when applying. If they miss the main draw, they are entered into a second one, and those selected do not pay the full entry fee. It roughly doubles a UK applicant’s chances.
Can international runners enter the ballot?
Yes. The ballot is open worldwide. If drawn, international runners pay a higher entry fee. Official tour operators are the main alternative route.
Is a Good for Age time a guaranteed place?
No. Meeting the standard earns you the right to apply. Places are allocated fastest within each Age and gender band, and the organisers also advise entering the ballot if your time is within 10 minutes of the standard.
Can I defer a place to the following year?
Good-for-Age places cannot be deferred. For ballot and charity places, check the current terms with the organisers, as deferral policies are set annually.
What is the easiest way in if I miss the ballot?
For most runners, a charity place. For fast runners, Good for Age. For very fast club runners, Championship entry. For patient runners, a club allocation.
When do ballot results come out?
Early July, by email. Check junk folders before giving up hope.
About The Author
