London Marathon 2026: When does the ballot for next year open - how to enter, how are winners drawn and tips to increase your chances

The ballot for the 2026 London Marathon will open on Friday 25 April 2025 and close on Friday 2 May 2025. This means that you have just over a week to put your name in the metaphorical hat.

Anyone can enter the London Marathon ballot – you don’t need to have completed a marathon (or any running events) beforehand. Entry will become available via the TCS London Marathon website.

The London Marathon ballot is vastly oversubscribed. For the 2025 race, a record-breaking 840,318 people entered the ballot. There’s usually only around 17,000 places allocated to the ballot (the rest are spread across charity, good for age and tour operators).That means there’s only around a 2% chance of actually getting a place at the London Marathon through entering the ballot.

If you’re a UK resident however, you do have an option that could (marginally) increase your chance of getting a ballot place. At the point of entry, you can choose to donate your entry fee to the London Marathon charity. This means that whether you get a place at London or not, you’ve forfeited that money.

But if you’re unsuccessful in the general ballot, you’re automatically entered into a second ballot. So you’ve got a second shot. If you still don’t get a place, you’re not left entirely empty handed – you’ll be sent a training shirt as a consolation prize. If you choose to donate your entry fee, you only pay £49.99 instead of the full £69.99.

The ballot is drawn entirely at random, and results will usually be communicated in June or July. If you chose to donate your entry fee, your entry will already be prepaid. If you didn’t, you’ll need to pay the full entry fee (£69.99) to secure your spot.

If a Good for Age time isn’t feasible, you can improve your chances of getting into the London Marathon by applying for a charity place. London is currently the world’s largest one-day charity fundraising event. Since its inception in 1981 the race has raised over £1.3 billion for charitable causes. You must commit to a minimum fundraising amount, so get creative with your fundraising efforts—and get comfortable asking all your friends, family, and co-workers to donate!