Ballot now opened for the eager among us.
Sun, 27 Apr 2025
London, UK
https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/enter/how-to-enter/the-ballot-explained
https://ldt.is/MV2gfl
Closes tomorrow. Hopefully my photoshop skills are good enough. Otherwise it’s Boston
Try get into the gym and do some work on your core. If your doing a few 10ks a week maybe substitute one for a gym session. Get into a marathon plan in the new year. 2 runs and 2 or 3 gym sessions before Xmas will set you up well when you're starting the marathon program in the new year. I hardly know a person who came out of the ballot so you've been very lucky
Does anyone know if there is anywhere to buy tickets in the month leading up to London? Similar to Dublin over the last few weeks there was hundreds of tickets available - is this done in London does anyone know?
Hey Trampas, did you get in?
My entry was accepted. I thought they said 8th of December before saying if in or not
Got confirmation I’m in for London gfa
Got GFA confirmation too. As far as i can tell from comments on fb groups etc there was no "buffer" needed, once you had the GFA time you got in
Someone was telling me to try and stay somewhere handy to get to Charing Cross station as first station on train line to start.
After that it’s really what you want. Mind try air bnb place as I don’t be eating hotel breakfast. Bagels for me when racing
11 weeks out! Was a rough old week training wise in the conditions, but nice deload week now. How's everyone else doing?
Training going well, I am following a 16 week plan. I have started noticing my legs getting stronger and heart rate dropping both of which are positives.
I've a few social engagements that derail me, so it's important that the other weeks go to plan.
Hotel prices are crazy this year, when compared with previous year's I've run it.
£300 for a Travelodge!
Sheesh! £300 for a Travelodge is pretty wild, what area is that? I got a nice hotel in South Kensington for roughly the same price
Going ok. Fitness coming back. Hard to get souls to come out for part of a long run. It’s years since I’ve done a spring marathon. Seems to be very few half’s around to do as part of seeing where you are.
Where are you based? I think the Kinvara 3/4 still has availability, and that's at the start of March.
It was a couple of minutes from Tower Bridge, the Sunday night is £100 and the Monday is £55. Surge pricing!
Kildare. Down for Bohermeen half that weekend even though I’m not looking forward to it based on last year
So I have decided to skip this marathon! Unfortunately getting to the 40k is just too much for my poor hips/legs right now! I have tried a plan but going past 25k is very difficult. Not to mention changing circumstances (The stork this summer), I think I have to perhaps come back later to this idea!
I'll happily sell my place at cost to someone if interested. I also have a double room booked in a hotel from 25-27 April in Southwark for 190. Can cancel that but if it would also like this.
Testing times out there training for this race, if it's not the phissing rain, it's the swirling wind. April 26 is gonna be some day!
Definitely, the last week of training was the most difficult and probably the only one I haven't enjoyed.
Too many competing priorities, kids on midterm, busy period in work and the weather meant I had my lowest mileage week so far.
Hoping to put it back on track this week. This will be half way of my 16 week plan.
Hi all, just joining the thread now and following along.
Flying over the Saturday to London City so right beside the expo then staying around 1-2km from the finish. Training has been going quite well with a half PB in Bohermeen last week to give me a good idea of where I’m at.
Will be keeping an eye on the thread, hope everyone’s training is going well.
6 weeks to go :-o
I’m still doing it but I’ve got Achilles bursitis. So it’ll be enjoy myself and go on feel than trying to do a pb. Will go again next year as my time is 90 seconds improvement on my time I got in doing gfa for this year. I’m Friday into London city and back Monday via Heathrow
Staying out at Paddington / Notting Hill near the finish, any tips for those that have stayed near the finish previously?
For going in, I assume Paddington Station a couple of hours before start and follow the crowds! How reliable are the bag drops?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/mar/25/revealed-secret-plans-for-two-day-london-marathon-with-100000-runners Looks like it might be slightly easier to get an entry for London next year if these proposals get the go ahead.
Bag drop was a perfect experience last year.
The trucks were in the different corrals. Very clearly marked, and simple to get to.
Walk up with your bag to the truck that corresponds to your race number. They check that the number of the bag matches the number on your bib, and then you walk away
When you cross the lines, the trucks are basically 100m after you cross the line. Walk up to your truck, and they get your bag immediately. Took me all of 10 seconds to get my bag after
Don’t agree with it but really depends on how they run it. Will elites be split over two days males one day and female the next? It would have to be the same for championship entries that it be run on the same day. Maybe one day for charities and selfies people and other day for gfa and championship entries and some charities
From the sounds of it, Elite men will be on one day, and Elite women on the next.
My only concern is if I wanted to run with someone, there's a chance we'd get entries for different days.
I suppose running through tour groups, or via charities would probably eliminate the risk.
The fact is, even if they double the capacity, the chances of getting in via the lottery are still tiny
Pink 9:36 starting wave for me
Pink 9:41 :-)
Very envious of you all running London this year. Such a fantastic race and experience.
Word of advice for meeting other runners last year. My friend and I agreed to meet at letter V, as we presumed it would be less crowded.
It was a very long walk down to that meeting point. Go for an earlier letter. It's pretty easy to spot people at each letter
What are the trains like in the morning to start line? It seems Charing Cross or Cannon Street train station for me. Do you get on the next one or could you be waiting a while to get on?
In the two years I've done it, I've just walked onto the train. One year, I may have had to stand. They are busy but there are so many options it didn't seem over crowed.
The train station out in blackheath was very busy, I recommend just sitting on the train and taking another few minutes.
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