Is it the influence of Hardest Geezer? Is it the internet as a whole? Whatever the reason, it’s no bad thing that the UK is gripped with a case of running fever, exemplarily demonstrated by record numbers signing up to next year’s London marathon, mere days after the 2024 event.
The main ballot for the 2025 London Marathon closed on Friday, April 26, and it has been revealed that a total of more than 840,000 hopeful runners signed up for the event. This has trounced last year’s total, which was also a record at the time, of 578,000 signups.
672,631 people in the UK signed up for the marathon, which included 50.33% men, 49.03% women, and 0.64% non-binary applicants. There were also 167,687 applications which came from outside of the UK in the international ballot. Successful applicants will be notified in July. This year, around 53,000 runners completed the marathon, so chances of success in the ballot are slim, but not impossible!
How do I run the London Marathon?
With a lot of effort and a touch of good fortune… and that’s before you’ve even put your running shoes on! Getting a place is difficult enough. The period for entities to the ballot has now passed, but you may be able to run on behalf of a charity if you can commit to raising a certain amount of funds for donation. In 2024, over £67 million was raised for charity by runners in the London Marathon. You can find out more about signing up to run on behalf of a charity here.
If you’re part of a running club’s first team, you might also get a shot to tun the marathon, and there are also a certain number of ‘good for age’ places. Plus, if you set an insanely quick qualification time you might just be able to gain automatic entry.
If you’re already looking ahead to the race next year, you can note down the date of Sunday, April 27 for the big run.