It lands on a Thursday morning in July and there are only two versions of it. One makes your year. The other is the one most people got, and if you are reading this you already know which one opened on your phone at 07:14 while you were still in bed pretending to be asleep.
A record 1,338,544 people entered the ballot for the 2027 TCS London Marathon, and results went out by email on 9 July 2026. The 2027 race is the Double: 100,000 runners across two days, 45,000 on Saturday 24 April and 55,000 on Sunday 25 April. Biggest the event has ever been. Still nowhere near enough.
So you are out. Here is what is actually still open, what is worth your money, and what you can safely ignore.
First, check your junk folder
Every year a decent number of people decide they have been rejected when the result is sitting in spam. Results go out in waves through the day rather than all at once, which is why someone you follow was celebrating at 6am while you were still refreshing at four. If you genuinely never received one, contact London Marathon Events rather than assuming the worst.
And if you donated your entry fee when you applied, the hydration vest is still coming. Unsuccessful donors were told to expect it by the end of November. Moved house since entering? There is a change-of-address form on the London Marathon Events site, and it is worth the two minutes.
Route one: a charity place
This is the main door, and for 2027 it is unusually wide. Charity places this cycle include the chance to run on the Saturday, which means charities are holding more London bibs than they ever have.
The catch is the number attached to it. Most large charities set a minimum fundraising pledge of somewhere between £2,500 and £2,800, plus a registration fee, and the pledge is a commitment rather than an aspiration. Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and Mind both ask for £2,500. Macmillan and Guy's Cancer Charity sit at £2,750. Save the Children asks £2,800 alongside a £125 registration fee.
Two and a half grand is not nothing. If you have a cause you actually care about and people around you who will actually give, it is very achievable and it will be the best thing you do all year. If you want the bib and nothing else, you have signed up for eight months of asking your colleagues for money on top of the running. Work out which one you are, then apply early to several charities that mean something to you.
Route two: Good for Age
If you are quick, there is a second door. Around 6,000 places are set aside for Good for Age entry, split evenly between men and women, and you get in by running a fast enough marathon inside the qualifying window rather than by luck.
Two caveats. London Marathon Events had not published the 2027 standards at the time of writing and has said details will follow in autumn 2026, so treat the last published numbers — under 2:52 for men aged 18 to 39, under 3:38 for women — as a rough guide rather than a target. And qualifying does not guarantee entry. If more people hit the standard than there are places, the fastest in each age and gender category get in. The bar has moved in one direction in recent years and it was not downwards.
For most of us this door is theoretical. Worth knowing it exists, though, because the standards get considerably kinder as you get older, which remains the best argument for ageing anyone has produced.
Route three: run a different marathon
Here is the thing nobody wants to hear on rejection day. London is not the best marathon for a first-timer or a slower runner. It is the most famous one. The crowd support is extraordinary and the day itself is several hours of standing about in Greenwich in a bin bag before you run a step. If your goal is to run 26.2 miles, rather than to run them specifically over Tower Bridge, the world is quite large.
Brighton
Same organisers, no ballot, the sea on one side, and a course that is at least upfront about its hills. The 2027 Brighton Marathon Weekend is on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 April, with the marathon on the Sunday. Entries opened on 2026 race day and it has previous for selling out, so if this appeals, do not sit on it for a fortnight.
Manchester
Flat, fast, superbly supported, and included here mainly as a cautionary tale: over 40,000 public places for the 18 April 2027 race went in ten days and the event is now at capacity, with only charity places left. File under "set a reminder for next April".
Frankfurt and Lisbon
London Marathon Events also runs the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon and the EDP Lisbon Marathon. Both take direct entries with no ballot, both are flat, and both come with a weekend abroad attached.
The virtual one
TCS London Marathon MyWay lets you cover the distance wherever you like and still collect the medal. Some find that hollow. Others find it an almost perfect low-stakes first marathon: no start pen, no baggage lorry, and a bathroom that is yours.
Route four: do not run a marathon
A real suggestion, not a joke. A rejection is a nudge rather than a verdict, and for a lot of runners a year spent getting properly good at the half beats a year spent surviving a marathon build they were not ready for. Run four halves. Do a parkrun block and take two minutes off your 5K. Get to the point where ten miles is an unremarkable Sunday. Then enter the next ballot as someone who runs, rather than someone with a spreadsheet.
The following year's ballot has historically opened around race weekend the previous spring. Check the official site when the time comes, not a Facebook group.
What to wear while you get over it
No item of clothing improves your ballot odds. What kit can do is make the next eight months of running-because-you-said-you-would slightly less of a negotiation. The Agony running tee is light, does not hold onto the smell, and says out loud what your face has been saying since mile 18. Underneath that, the Suffer running shorts have pockets that actually hold a phone and a liner that behaves itself well past ten miles. If your build runs through a British winter and out the far side into spring, the Brow Mop cap deals with the two things that ruin an otherwise fine long run: rain arriving on your face and sweat arriving in your eyes. Everything else lives in The Kit.
Common questions
How many people applied for the 2027 London Marathon ballot?
A record 1,338,544 people entered from the UK and around the world, and results were emailed on 9 July 2026. Every entrant was automatically included in a random draw for both days of the Double.
Can I still get a place in the 2027 London Marathon?
Yes. Charity places are the main remaining route and for 2027 they include Saturday entries. Good for Age entry is open to anyone with a qualifying marathon time, and TCS London Marathon MyWay lets you run the distance virtually.
How much do you have to raise for a London Marathon charity place?
Most large charities set a minimum pledge of between £2,500 and £2,800, usually alongside a registration fee. Smaller charities sometimes ask for less. The pledge is a commitment you sign, not a target you hope to hit.
Do you get anything if you are rejected from the London Marathon ballot?
If you donated your entry fee when you applied, you receive a hydration vest. Unsuccessful donors were told to expect delivery by the end of November, and there is a change-of-address form if you have moved since entering.
What is the easiest UK marathon to get into?
Almost any marathon without a ballot, which is nearly all of them. Brighton, Frankfurt and Lisbon all take direct entries, and smaller UK marathons usually have places available months out. London is the exception rather than the rule.
Related reading
If the rejection has knocked the wind out of you, start here: In Defence of the 35-Minute 5K, then How Slow Should Easy Runs Actually Be? for the thing most people get wrong in a marathon build. And before the winter mileage starts, What to Wear Running: A UK Temperature Guide.
Suffer every mile. Still no medals. THE ORDINARY TIMES, rejection desk.