My neighbour Dave once entered the ballot on a whim. He was forty, a bit soft around the middle, and his main hobby was watching rugby with a pint. He got a place, panicked, and spent six months running in the dark like a guilty teenager. On race day, he crossed the finish line in just over five hours, cried a bit, and now has a photo of himself grinning next to a man dressed as a toilet. That is the magic of the ballot. It turns normal people into heroes—or at least into people with excellent photo albums.
London Marathon 2027 ballot - Royal Berks Charity
The ballot opens for a limited window—usually about a week in late April 2026. You don’t need to run a qualifying time, you don’t need to be part of an elite club. You just need to fill in a form, pay a small fee (around £30-£40), and hope the random number generator is feeling generous.
How to Prepare (Without Breaking a Sweat)
First, mark your calendar right now for April 2026. Yes, it seems bonkers, but set a recurring reminder on your phone that says “Marathon Ballot—don’t be a plank.” Secondly, make sure you have a credit card handy and an email address you actually check. Nothing worse than winning the lottery and missing the confirmation email because it went to your spam folder alongside dodgy adverts for fake watches.
Finally, have a conversation with your future self. In 2027, you’ll either be the person who ran London Marathon, or the person who explains to strangers at parties, “I nearly entered the ballot but I forgot.” Which one sounds better? Exactly.
London Marathon 2027 Ballot Opens – Dates, Entry Guide, and Chances
