The world’s most popular marathon proves it deserves the title yet again. The TCS London Marathon has smashed its own record for number of applicants for next year’s race. With a total of 1,388,544 potential runners putting their name in the proverbial hat for the 2027 London Marathon, the record set for applicants for the 2026 London Marathon now sits at second place. 

When you break down the figures of London Marathon entries, the numbers are eye-popping.

  • A whopping 1,008,091 of the 1.3 million applicants hail from the U.K., making up 1.8% of the population of the U.K.
  • Women aged 20-29 made up the highest number of U.S. applicants with over 179,000 signing up
  • 35% of all U.K. applicants were made up of 18-29 year olds

Of the seven world major marathons, London is the race with the smallest window of entry, at 1%. The TCS New York Marathon comes in at a close second place with a 2 to 3 percent chance of entry. You can see the rest of the odds for the world majors below.

*note the Boston number is flipped, apologies, but hey it’s not AI it’s a human

A record 59,830 runners crossed the finish line in April’s race.

The first two to cross the line were the first two to ever finish a marathon in under two hours. Kenyan runner Sabastian Sawe finished with a world record of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha finished 11 seconds behind for the second best marathon time. 

London Marathon 2 Day Event

Due to the extremely high demand, the London Marathon is currently discussing the possibility of staging the event over the course of two days in 2027, according to Sean Ingle of The Guardian.

This would allow a record 100,000 runners to participate over the course of the two days.

  • Lottery would still exist
  • You would still have one entry and it would drawn for one day or the other
  • You wouldn’t be picking the day, so couldn’t plan for a group
  • Logistically this would mean a LOT for London to manage with road closures and increased need for hotels, transportation, volunteers
  • Elites would all run at the same time to ensure there is one conclusive winner under the same conditions
  • Currently 25% of entries go to media, charity, elites, tour groups…which could mean now 25% per day, which gives a massive increase in business to tour operators, but maybe also some sub elites a chance?
  • There’s a lot we don’t know about how this would shake out
  • It feels unlikely they will get it in place for 2027

Additionally, charity donation amounts are expected to increase by tens of millions of dollars.

In an event where charity donation amounts are within breathing distance of 100 million British pounds, that increase can be significant. It is reported that the expected charity donation numbers could potentially increase to 130 million British pounds, in addition to the stimulus to the local economy.

It is clear the sport we all love – and I assume you do if you’re here reading this – continues to grow after its explosion in popularity after the worldwide Covid lockdowns in 2020. While looking at the minuscule odds of entry into the world majors can be disheartening, they can still be a long-term goal for runners. And with so many other medium and small sized marathons available in which you can test yourself.

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