A record number of individuals have applied to participate in the 2027 London Marathon through the public ballot, with 1,338,544 entries submitted. This surpasses the previous record of 1,133,813 set last year. Over one million applicants are from the United Kingdom alone, marking another milestone, and the gender split among applicants is nearly equal.
2026 Edition Breaks Multiple Records
The 2026 London Marathon, held on 25 April, saw 59,830 runners cross the finish line, setting a new record for the event. It also broke its own record as the world's largest annual one-day fundraising event, raising more than £87.5 million for charity—£200,000 more than the 2025 edition, with additional funds still being counted.
Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, stated: "This astonishing total of applicants firmly establishes London as the world’s most sought-after marathon. Nothing else comes close. Our mission is to inspire people of every age and ability to get active—and these extraordinary numbers show the massive draw and power of the London Marathon."
World Records and Allocation
Places in the race are determined by a random draw, with results for the record-breaking ballot to be announced in July. The 2026 marathon featured remarkable achievements: Kenya's Sabastian Sawe shattered the two-hour barrier, setting a new world record of 1:59:30, with all three men's podium finishers finishing under the previous benchmark in a legal marathon. In the women's race, Ethiopian Tigst Assefa defended her title and broke her own women's-only world record.
Brasher told BBC Breakfast: "It’s amazing that people want to do it. There are so many reasons to do it, in terms of that joy, that unity, it truly is a day that you feel on top of the world because people are clapping you, cheering you, and in life we don’t get that. People are coming together and you start seeing that as human beings we are far more similar than we are different."
Potential Two-Day Event
Brasher acknowledged the challenge of accommodating all applicants: "We’re going to disappoint more than a million people, basically more than 1.3 million people because we can’t fit everyone into the streets of London. There are other marathons you can do, there’s plenty of marathons, but it is just such a unique day, and the crowds and the historic course, it’s just such a special occasion."
Discussions are underway about the possibility of holding a two-day London Marathon in 2027, instead of the traditional Sunday event, to allow significantly more participants. Brasher expressed hope for a final decision by the end of May. He noted: "This is for one year only. We are engaging, and have been engaging for a long time, with a lot of stakeholders. Rightly, they want us to go through a process to ensure what we do is appropriate. People will get disrupted—it's never happened before on a Saturday. It would be a one-off. We hope to get there, we're not there yet. I'm positive it's the right thing to do."
