London Marathon - Failed entry again!

I think you either have to be doing it for a charity or join a running club and get one of their entries

There are some lovely off road marathons you could do

Can't help on other marathons - but there are 17,000 places and 400,000 entries for the London ballot - so the chance of getting a place is a lot less than 1 in 4.

Great North Run?

Yes, and I am very aware of the tall odds (about 4% chance, 1 in 24). A ray of sunshine in a very tough year.

Ahhh ... Mrs HTO, who has been trying for 10 years, finally got a place! Now she has Manchester Marathon, then 3 weeks later, London, and then about a month after that, the World Triathlon Championship Series Triathlon in Sunderland!

Better get some dates booked in for me to do stuff, otherwise there won't be any weekends left!

No I didn’t get an entry. I’m not fully committed to the idea of a road marathon as I prefer trail but it would have been a great experience!

I guess it wouldn’t help to let you know in 2016 I entered on a whim and got in! Was quite an experience you could try a charity place or get in via a running club. On the subject of marathons I did Paris 2 years later and it was a brilliant weekend. Much preferred it over london. There’s also kielder in October a tough but stunning marathon

I’ve got a vague plan to wait until I’m fifty in 2024 run buy some fancy Nike trainers and run the the good for age time at Manchester and then jog round in London in 2025.

A few flaws in the plan I haven’t really run for two years and due to multiple injuries and I need to lose about 5 stone plus I’ll be 7 years older. Although I was about 3.10 form at the start of lock down so there is hope.

The ruining club gets a few places my mate got a place the week after he joined jammy sod.

I think this is the eighth year in a row my wife has failed to get in. She is starting to give up on the idea, especially as we are already seeing the SM post "OMG, I got in! 1st time I tried! I don't even run LOL! Better get some trainers and start a diet!"

Charity places are a good idea, but at over £3K are not an option as she fears the 'extra pressure' would be too much for her 🙁

Paris peaked her interest as well, but there seems to be some issues with getting a medical certificate before you go

Now she has Manchester Marathon, then 3 weeks later, London

You might want to check the dates, aren't they on subsequent weekends - 16th/23rd April? Recovery is overrated, right?

I didn't get in, partly relieved it saves on logistics. But I did tell myself I'd enter Manchester if I didn't get in, so no excuse to put that off now.

Would it be possible to just turn up with a fake number and join in?

I really wanted in as I wanted to enter the ‘swim serpentine’ later in the year and tick off the ‘london classics’ this year…

Alas, no luck for me…

I’ve got the Brighton marathon at the beginning of April, so was thinking the 3 weeks between would have been fine.

DO you really need to raise 3k for a charity place??? OOF!

DrP

I have the London Classics gong (It really is Del-Boy large) and found the two mile Serpentine swim to be the most relaxing experience of the three. A real delight to do, it did help that the day was a freaky sunny warm day. The marathon on the other hand was tough, real tough. Cycle was an obvious hoot and quite doable with min prep.

I raised just over 2K for Asthma UK (Have it) last year. Most places are 2K - Asthma was 1.8K.

The fundraising target put me off the charity entry, it’s a massive amount of money
I saw you could donate your entry to charity if you didn’t win the ballot. Wonder if that would have made a difference?

This is the 18th year in a row I've entered, and amazingly I got in this time. Not really sure what to think about it as just assumed I wouldn't get a place and enter our of habit. TBH I've eased off running over the last few months, so better get back on it.

Of course the other way to get in is to run a sub 2:10 time ?

Manchester is good fun, fast course and lots of spectators. In truth, most big city marathons will do the same job. Amsterdam or Barcelona are big but not massive so you should get a place.
I’d avoid Edinburgh, large sections without people and finishes in an odd place too.
Or try the Snowdonia ballot if you want a very different challenge.

Go for a good for age entry. I think it’s sub 3hr 20 if your in your 50s. So just run another marathon to get your qualifier in then enter next years as good for age. I did that one year by running the Blackpool marathon.

Well done everyone who got a place.

Is a good for age a guaranteed entry? May try that route next year and London in ‘24 - thats if I can get that time!

No. Championship entry is guaranteed tho' - and you can get in on your half time as well.

Sub 2:10 you'll be getting get paid. It's nice in the elite pen 😉

I have just had a look online and one of the charities thats close to me, who I already support, would want a minimum of £3k. I don’t blame them for wanting as much as possible, but its quite a lot to raise.

And what if I failed to finish!

Championship Entry for men is 2:45 !

Another no here, shall try again next year.

BIL got a knock back too, so he’s back on the pies.

Championship entry was 2:40 for this years event but times haven't been released for next year as yet. I suspect they may be creeping down some more (previously 2:45). You can also qualify with a half marathon time of sub 72:30.
I've got a GFA (v45) place but I'm waiting to see what the champs requirement is before entering as I currently have a time based on this years entry but that could all change.

They have tightened up GFA entry over the last few years.

I've done a few road marathons, and found Paris to be much more enjoyable than London, truthfully I didn't enjoy London Marathon one bit.

I enjoy running, relaxing in to it, having time to think and let me mind wander. London was 26.2 miles of absolutely intense, uncomfortable noise. It just felt like the crowd lined the whole course on both sides and it was very narrow for the most part, so people yelling, drumming and pumping music only an arm's length from me for the duration. Probably not helped be the GFA place giving me a relatively early start so all of the crowd energy was a bit more focused. I was not prepared for this. I get that a lot of people may benefit from that style of encouragement, and as a spectacle it is impressive, but it really threw me off my race. So much so that i think it may have put me off, since running London in 2018 I haven't done a single race of any distance since, I've only just realised that whilst typing this

By comparison, Paris was blissful. Wide boulevards, park land, the Parisian landmarks, stress free entry, and I found the whole getting your race number and to/from the start/finish a bit easier than London.

Never run a marathon but did a few halves BITD, the best i did was in Paris. Not strictly a half marathon, it was the Paris to Versailles run which is about 16km, but still a 25K runner event.

In those times it was a distinctly gallic experience.... we did it with colleagues from the french office, got badly pissed and overate the night before, hungover on the start line neaxt to the Seine and Eiffel tower.....start was so crowded some Kenyan had won the race before we even started, making it truly pointless. Then just as we really got going and weren't feeling crowded you run 2km up a 7% hill......

But it was fantastic, a real laugh being handed out glasses of beer, fruit and nuts and bits of croissant as you run through narrow ancient streets to the sound of accordion music. After finishing we went for a long lunch. Very french.

Anyone else here doing Brighton marathon in early april? MY first marathon, BTW!

DrP

There's reputedly a good reason people like Paris more than London 😉 Quite a bit if scope for corner cutting,

I liked racing in France, I liked London as well. If you think London is narrow and noisy , never qualify for Boston. I personally never bothered with the smaller marathons as I didn't really fancy racing by myself for 2 1/2 hours with no crowds or stuff

@Dr P . Not this time ,but have run it twice previously , in 2019 and 2021.
Watch out for the sea breeze when you hit 22 miles!
Great support and atmosphere there.

I very much enjoyed Stockholm marathon...you finish in the old Olympic Stadium. Not sure it still happens tho.

Snowdonia, for something a bit different 😂

I personally never bothered with the smaller marathons as I didn’t really fancy racing by myself for 2 1/2 hours with no crowds or stuff

Humblebrag 😂😉

Twodogs
Full Member
I personally never bothered with the smaller marathons as I didn’t really fancy racing by myself for 2 1/2 hours with no crowds or stuff

Humblebrag 😂😉

Second attempt. Noone bit on the first so he just had to go again... 🙃

First year in many years I haven't tried - I have entered the ballot every year for the last 12+ years and failed every time but this year I have had so many injuries I didn't even bother applying 🙁

I feel your disappointment - after years of trying I got an entry back in 2010 - trained my ass off for it whilst working in Dubai.
Came back home in the February and kept the training up only to come down with a massive kidney infection in the March - 8 weeks of antibiotics knackered that year up so I deferred until 2011 only to knacker my knee 2 weeks before the event.......

I never bothered entering again as I took it as a sign lol

I feel really sorry for those who want to enter and run the race as a personal challenge. It appears that this is getting  harder and harder to do as the event has become all about an elite race and charity money raising rather than about running and personal challenge

My wife did on a good for age (she's 40 and got a 3.15 last year.) She was very pleased.

You might want to check the dates, aren’t they on subsequent weekends – 16th/23rd April? Recovery is overrated, right?

This happened to my wife a few years ago, Manchester one weekend in driving rain and sleet (she was hypothermic at the end!) then London the next weekend in blistering sunshine. Somehow she managed to go 10 mins faster at London! Recovery is for losers etc.

I feel really sorry for those who want to enter and run the race as a personal challenge. It appears that this is getting harder and harder to do as the event has become all about an elite race and charity money raising rather than about running and personal challenge

it feels like this...
I'm now getting spammed with emails for charity places!!!

Here's a thought.... does the virtual london marathon count towards the london classics?
(I've emailed them to see if it does, but just wondered..)

also... swim serpentine was cancelled in '22, and moved to next year, so thre'll be no spaces for thet either i guess!

DrP

I feel really sorry for those who want to enter and run the race as a personal challenge. It appears that this is getting  harder and harder to do as the event has become all about an elite race and charity money raising rather than about running and personal challenge

There's lots of marathons.  Is there any reason why London is more of a personal challenge than others?  Or why running the London Marathon course on another day would not provide at least the same challenge?  It wouldn't be my choice for a first marathon - but I can see why people might want to do London specifically - its a huge event, it has the elite athletes, its run by celebrities, its on tv, etc... they of course are all the things which make it the event you feel sorry about it becoming.

I guess "london marathon" is a landmark marathon, and some people (DOI - me included) would just like to tick THAT off..not for a great time, not cos I want to support a charity, but just for me..
That's the bit that's getting harder it seems.

DrP

why running the London Marathon course on another day would not provide at least the same challenge

All the road crossings, pedestrians, traffic would make it significant PITA I'd imagine! But I know nothing much about the route and even less about running marathon distance.

but just for me

100% this - that's the only reason I have ever wanted to run it.

An ex colleague went and did the Beirut marathon a good few years ago, he didn't rate the experience, this may help you narrow it down a bit.

Maybe find a well organised & supported trail marathon in a beautiful location, possibly overseas, and do that instead?