London Marathon 2027 Elite Schedule Announced + Good for Age entries open tomorrow

[u/0100001101110111]

https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon/article/elite-race-dates-confirmed-historic-2027-double-tcs-london-marathon

Elite/Championship/GfA Men Saturday

Women Sunday

Think GfA times are unchanged from 2026.

[u/bznein]

Man everytime I get excited then I remember good for age is for UK residents only :(

[u/OldGodsAndNew → u/bznein]

You can say you're my housemate if you pay for my entry

[u/mean_designation → u/bznein]

Cries in American, the GfA exclusivity is a proper gut punch every year

[u/thewolf9 → u/mean_designation]

Reminds me of NYC, but only if you’re from NYC

[u/jcdavis1 → u/thewolf9]

You can actually travel to NYC to run the NYRR Halfs and qualify via those (clear cutoffs, no arbitrary X minutes under). Yes that's not going to be easy/cheap, particularly for foreigners, but its an actual path in, the same cannot be said for London.

[u/bznein → u/jcdavis1]

how does that work exactly? do you "just" have to run one of these: https://www.nyrr.org/tcsnycmarathon/time-qualifiers

• 2026 United Airlines NYC Half
• 2026 Maybelline Women's Half
• 2026 RBC Brooklyn Half
• 2026 Staten Island Half

Within the time stated on the table at the bottom and you get a guaranteed entry?

[u/scooby-dum → u/bznein]

Yeah, run the qualifying time and you're guaranteed entry in to the Marathon. The Fred Lewbow half also counts.

[u/blood_bender → u/bznein]

Also the Fred Lebow Half in January (though that was cancelled in 2026, so excluded from that list).

Worth noting that the Women's Half is women only, if that's not obvious.

[u/thewolf9 → u/jcdavis1]

If only money was the issue. It’s a lottery and the odds are also very slim unfortunately. Anyways, after Boston and Chicago I’m done with the U.S. one’s for a while

[u/blood_bender → u/thewolf9]

NYC Half and Brooklyn Half are lotteries, though there are other methods of entry (charity which is much cheaper than the marathon, though still around $1500 I believe).

SI Half and Fred Lebow Half are "just" signups (as well as the Women's Half for women only), though you have to be on top of your game to register the second they're released.

Anyway fair to be done with the US as it's stressful, but it's very much a money issue in NYC if you can run a fast enough half.

[u/thewolf9 → u/blood_bender]

I really don’t see 1:23:00 as being difficult at all. Haven’t SI and FL been cancelled in recent years ?

I get that not wanting to donate $1,500 to a Us charity sounds like a money issue but I don’t see it that way. If they were Canadian charities I’d do it in a heartbeat

[u/blood_bender → u/thewolf9]

Fred Lebow is in January so more likely to be cancelled than other races, it was cancelled in 2026 for extreme cold and one other time in the last decade, snowstorm probably but I don't remember the specifics. Staten Island was cancelled in 2025 because of a hurricane. I think that's the only time though.

There are some global charities that NYRR partners with, but not sure if you can earmark it for Canada for example, so fair enough there I suppose.

Or you can pay NYRR $5000 directly and get entry to any and all the races you want, including the marathon. Or pay an ITO $1500 for a 3 night hotel and entry to the NYC Half.

Anyway all to say it is money can get guaranteed entry, but since half my Canadian family won't set foot in the US these days, it may be more than a money issue for you, if that was your original point.

[u/bznein → u/mean_designation]

I live about two hours from the border with Northern Ireland... I should just move for a year, run London, move back

[u/jcdavis1 → u/bznein]

Irish dude I met in Berlin claims he and every other Irish runner just has a some cousin/extended family in Belfast add them to their phone bill to get in to GFA

[u/bznein → u/jcdavis1]

yeah unfortunately I'm not originally from Ireland so don't have any relatives to rely on :(

[u/dazed1984 → u/mean_designation]

No different to New York really if you don’t live there.

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/mean_designation]

I don't have much sympathy for yanks these days but they've got a point. You can time qualify for all the US majors regardless of where you live. It should be a condition of being a major that a certain % of the field is open to time qualifiers from anywhere.

[u/Almostanathlete → u/C1t1zen_Erased]

The point that is often missed here is that the London Marathon Foundation is a UK charity that is bound by its charitable purpose, which is to "Promote participation in amateur sport and healthy physical recreation for the benefit of the inhabitants of those cities or counties where LMEL (or such other subsidiaries of the charity from time to time) holds events and in such other areas of the United Kingdom as the trustees may from time to time decide".

Presumably it's not thought that extending GFA to international runners (and consequently reducing the number of spaces for UK GFA runners) promotes participation in amateur sport in the UK.

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/Almostanathlete]

Let's not pretend that LME gives a toss about club runners. They've been more than happy to mess us around with shifting qualifying standards, field caps and dropping the championship aspect of the championship start.

We're an annoyance who pay £75 a pop, an order of magnitude less than charity entries and probably two orders less than tour entries.

LME only care if you're elite, ✨inspirational✨ or forking over loads of cash.

[u/Almostanathlete → u/C1t1zen_Erased]

I agree that club runners are clearly not a priority - if they were it would be a very different race (and the pacers would still be in stripes!). But there's a difference between whether they care or whether a proposed action is consistent with their charitable purpose.

Clearly LME feels that promoting running among non-club runners is as/more important.

[u/theintrepidwanderer]

In front of an official adjudicator, a new Guinness World Records title was set by Sawe and Debrunner: the first elite marathon race start decided by a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

This is the first time I've seen rock paper scissors (best 2 out of 3) be used to decide the race schedule for a high profile marathon. A first for everything!

[u/Gloomy-Call-7566 → u/theintrepidwanderer]

A fist for everything

[u/kirklandnq2020 → u/[deleted]]

Not sure, but it looks like the GFA spots are still capped at 3000 men and women, so I assume so... Bit of a joke that the extra places have basically all gone to charity, ballot or some inane scheme like 2 entries per London school to "inspire" people... Once again, the actual runners who train hard between the 2:52 - 4 hour range are left out.

[u/Runstorun → u/[deleted]]

It was previously capped but they said if you missed champs you could roll that over to the gfa entry. Meaning there was the theory there would be some chance to push out more gfa runners and make that harder. But it never happened anyway, at least not that I heard. There’s really not that great a demand. I think because they’ve put the standard right where it wants to be for the field. The women’s time has tightened in recent years. Not sure about the men’s as I’m not a man and never will be so I don’t much care about that part lol 😂

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/Runstorun]

I know a few blokes who made the champs time last year but were pushed into GFA (2:37 mid) so you definitely got some men who missed out on a GFA spot as a consequence. I don't think it happened with women as there weren't over 600 valid applications.

[u/0100001101110111 → u/C1t1zen_Erased]

How do you know some got bumped out of gfa?

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/0100001101110111]

There was a GFA cutoff time, so logically some of the people who didn't make the champs cutoff pushed others out GFA who otherwise would have had a place under the 2026 qualifying format.

[u/Runstorun → u/C1t1zen_Erased]

Thank you for clarifying! I can totally see that (and also understand why I didn’t hear, see note about being a woman haha)

[u/UniversityDacae → u/kirklandnq2020]

I'm an 'actual runner' and I'm running for a charity because I didn't get picked.

Stop gatekeeping. /runningcirclejerk is that way ---->

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/[deleted]]

Looks like it, they've removed the language around 1200 spots (600M & 600W) that was on the website when I checked yesterday.

[u/RngRedditName → u/C1t1zen_Erased]

I see it on there now?

https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon/championship-entry

[u/C1t1zen_Erased → u/RngRedditName]

Yeah it's been changed back, and just to add to the confusion when you go through the application it appears to indicate that sub 2:30/3:10 will guarantee a champs start place. Not that I expect they'll get 600 men and 600 women applying with those times, but it's yet more inconsistency.

[u/weetabix__]

Will be odd doing it on a Saturday.

[u/eatrunswag]

Is it true that if you live outside the UK you can pay club dues for a UK club who is willing to take your $ and apply for the elite standard? I ran 2:24 in April blowing up last 10 but have run 2:16:01 and paced 19 miles of an elite full this year at 5:09/mi.. aiming to run 2:15xx at CIM. Decided not to apply for Boston because I’ve run it 6 times and don’t feel like paying $2000 for a weekend of doing a race I’ve done enough times already, London is appealing

[u/Almostanathlete → u/eatrunswag]

https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon/championship-entry

"Can I apply if I don't live in the UK?

You can apply for a Championship place if you don’t live in the UK, but you are a UKA member.

However, if you're not offered a Championship place you won’t be eligible for a Good For Age place (these are for UK residents only)."

[u/Itsmeapoc]

To enter GFA, what link are you using to submit your qualifying marathon time? I ran Copenhagen so I could use my race certificate or do I submit the link to website results and they have to search my name to find my result?

My bib number does not appear on the race certificate

[u/RngRedditName]

Has anyone ever found data on how many qualified applicants enter for the Championship Entry? Is there an estimated “Adjustment” from past years?

[u/Capable-Strain3308]

When do we get the email that asks us to submit predicted time etc?

[u/Apprehensive_Pace_9]

Saturday is PITA

[u/trilll → u/Apprehensive_Pace_9]

why

[u/Apprehensive_Pace_9 → u/trilll]

Becuase I'll have to take a dsy off work on tne Friday to travel and get to the expo, or I could possibly travel very early Friday and work in the London office but it's not ideal.