1.33 Million Runners Learn Their London Marathon Fate Today

Check your inbox. Results from the 2027 TCS London Marathon ballot are being emailed to all applicants today, and a world-record 1,338,544 people are waiting on the answer, London Marathon Events announced.

They applied for a race unlike any before it. For one year only, the 2027 event will be a double marathon, run over both days of the weekend of 24-25 April 2027, with 100,000 runners taking part across the two days. Everyone who entered was automatically included in a random draw for both days, so successful applicants will find out today not just that they are in, but which day they will run the course from Greenwich to Westminster.

The Odds Were Still Brutal

Even with the biggest field in marathon history, the math was unforgiving. With 100,000 places and more than 1.3 million applicants, the ballot worked out to odds of roughly 1 in 13. The field splits into 45,000 runners on the Saturday and 55,000 on the Sunday.

“The 2027 Double TCS London Marathon will be a weekend of celebration like no other in history,” said Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events. “We know there’s a record number of people eagerly awaiting today’s results. For those who are successful, their exciting journey to the 2027 Double TCS London Marathon begins now.”

Missed Out? There Are Still Ways In

For the roughly 1.2 million who did not get a place, the ballot was never the only door. Charity places remain open, and for 2027 only, they include the option to run on the Saturday. The National Autistic Society is the event’s official Charity of the Year. There are several other routes into the race, from Good for Age to club places, and the same is true across all seven World Marathon Majors.

There is also the virtual option. The TCS London Marathon MyWay lets participants run 26.2 miles on a course of their choice, anywhere in the world, on either day of the Double weekend.

What We Don’t Know Yet

The organizers have not yet said which day the elite races will fall on. The men’s and women’s Elite, Championship, and Good for Age races will run on separate days, to be announced in due course. That decision carries some intrigue after this year’s race rewrote the record books with the first sub-two-hour marathon in an official race. The Mini London Marathon kicks off the weekend on Friday 23 April.

For the 100,000 who get good news today, the countdown to a piece of history starts now. Brasher put it simply: “We can’t wait to welcome 100,000 people to the streets of London next spring.”