London Marathon 2026: When next year's ballot opens - how to enter, tips to increase your chances and race date

The London Marathon 2025 will take place this weekend, and the ballot for the London Marathon 2026 is already open for those who want to run next year’s event.

The ballot for the London Marathon 2026 opened on Friday, April 25 2025, and it will remain open until Friday, May 2 2025. That means the window to enter the ballot is only one week long, giving hopeful runners very little time to get organised.

How does the London Marathon ballot work?

There is no qualification criteria to enter the ballot, with anyone able to enter via the TCS London Marathon website. The catch is that it is very difficult to get called out of the ballot, with 840,318 people applying for this year’s race, and there are only around 17,000 places allocated to the ballot, giving entrants a 2% chance of making the cut. The rest of the players are given out across charity, good for age and tour operators.

One way entrants can improve their chances is by donating your entry fee to the London Marathon charity, although this option is only available to UK residents. Crucially, though, that means your money will be forfeited whether you get in or not.

The good news is that those who don’t make it from the initial ballot are automatically entered into the second ballot. Those who don’t get in from that ballot are still sent a training shirt and a consolation prize. If you donate your entry fee, the payment is reduced from £69.99 to £49.99.

In terms of how the ballot works, it is done entirely at random, so there is no criteria you need to worry about in terms of getting in. The results of the ballot are sent out to runners in either June or July. If you donate your entry fee, that money is prepaid, while if you do not, the full entry fee of £69.99 is paid as a security deposit.

Alternate options are Good for Age times, which would require very strong marathon running times based on your age range, while you can also apply for a charity place. For that route, you must commit to raising a minimum fundraising amount.

When is London Marathon 2025?

London Marathon 2025 takes place this Sunday, April 27 2025. The start times are as follows:

8.50am – Elite wheelchair men’s and women’s races.

9.05am – Elite women’s race.

9.35am – Elite men’s race followed by mass start.

There are more than 56,000 runners this year, beating the record set by the New York Marathon last autumn. The race will be shown live on BBC.

London Marathon 2025 prize money

This year’s prize money will see the winner of each category bag $55,000, while the runners-up get $30,000. Third place will receive $22,500.

The world record bonus is set at $150,000 for men and $96,500 for women. The men’s world record is 2:02, while the women’s record is 2:15. A further bonus of $19,300 for men or women who set a new course record.

When is London Marathon 2026?

We already know that London Marathon 2026 will take place on Sunday, April 26 2026.