Struggling to get into London, Berlin or New York marathons via the ballot? There might be another way. Here’s how to bag a place in all the Abbott Marathons world marathon majors without having to rely on Lady Luck or necessarily being Good-for-Age fast.
When I ran my first marathon back in 2010, I never thought for a second that eight years later I’d have 28 x 26.2 finishes under my belt plus half a dozen ultras. Back then people with that kind of running CV seemed like different beasts to me. But here I am, having run five of the six Abbot World Marathon Majors, and the only thing between me and that coveted Six Star Finishers Medal, is the Tokyo Marathon. But with 300,000 people applying for only 30,000 places, it’s getting into the race, not the travel or the language barrier, that’s the main problem.
And I know I’m not the only runner finding it hard to tick off another of the world marathon majors, people I know chasing Berlin and London are finding it hard too. But before we resign ourselves to a future of endless ballot-based misery, maybe there’s another way. I’ve been looking at every possible avenue into the big six and here’s what I’ve found.
New York Marathon
I ran New York back in 2014 and was lucky enough to get a media invite. I now realise how lucky I was. In 2017, just short of 105,000 people entered the free ballot for the New York Marathon with 15,500 (15%) runners bagging a place via this route.
With race numbers estimated at 50,000, the vast majority of runners get in via one of the guaranteed entry methods. That’s either by running a qualifying time, running for charity or running enough New York Road Runners races to qualify for the NYRR 9+1.
Ballot entry: opens mid-January and runs to mid-February.
Entry fee: $358 (£260) in 2018 for overseas runners
Run a New York Marathon qualifying time
There are places set aside for people who have run a qualifying time in a selection of New York Road Runners (NYRR) races. In 2017, these races included: 2017 NYRR Fred Lebow Manhattan Half, 2017 United Airlines NYC Half, 2017 SHAPE Women’s Half-Marathon, 2017 Airbnb Brooklyn Half, 2017 NYRR Staten Island Half, and 2017 TCS New York City Marathon.
There are a limited number of qualifier places for those who have run qualifying times in non-NYRR races but these are allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Run with the New York Road Runners (NYRR 9+1)
The NYRR New York City Marathon Guaranteed Entry 9+1 programme, to give it’s full name, guarantees entry to paid up members of NYRR running club who complete nine NYRR qualifying races and volunteer at one event. If you don’t fancy volunteering you can also opt to donate $1,000 instead. Chances are you’re going to have to live in New York to make this one work but it’s a good option if you do.
Run the New York Marathon for charity
In 2018, an estimated 9,000 New York Marathon charity places will be allocated. The set up here is largely the same as London.You sign up, pay a registration fee and commit to a fundraising target. Though the price of registration and the amount you need to raise vary depending on whether you pay for your won flights and accommodation. To give you an example, running for Macmillan in 2018 would be £599 for registration and then between £2,000 and £3,700 minimum fundraising.
Book a sports tour
If all else fails you can always pay to solve the problem and book a New York Marathon sports tour. There are a number of well established companies but Sports Tours International and 209 Events are the UK’s official international travel partners for New York.
How much will it cost? As an example, trips for 2018 with Sports Tours International can start from £1,549 including guaranteed entry fee, flights and accommodation.
Boston Marathon
Of all the Abbot World Marathon Majors, the Boston Marathon is the only marathon where meeting a qualifying standard, based on your age and gender, is the main route of entry. It’s one of the reasons this is such an iconic event and a badge of honour, because in order to earn your Boston finish you first have to have run a bloody quick marathon somewhere else. Well at least that’s almost true but more on that later.
Entry period: The Boston Marathon’s entry process is complicated. When you can apply depends on how fast your qualifying time is. Luckily there’s a handy Boston qualifying time calculator on the official site to help you work out when to get your name in the hat.
Entry fee: $250 (£181.00) in 2018 for overseas runners.
Run a Boston Marathon qualifying time
Boston Marathon qualifying times aren’t quite as tough as New York, Tokyo and London but it’s also worth noting that just running one of the times below still doesn’t guarantee you entry. If too many people in your gender/age bracket reach the qualifying time, places are then dished out based on how far under that time you ran. So it’s very often the case that you’ll want to take 10 minutes off the times below to be confident of getting in.
I ran my qualifying time at the London Marathon in 2014, at the age of 36, with a 2:57:56 personal best and that was enough to earn me a place in 2015.
Bag a Boston Marathon charity place
While there’s undoubtedly something extra special about running Boston having qualified, you can run it for charity too via the Boston Marathon Official Charity Programme. However, the obligatory fund raising targets for Boston are even higher than London. You’ll need to hit a fundraising target of $5,000 (more than £3,500). Again that’s probably harder than running a qualifying time!
Book a sports tour
As with New York, you can cough up and buy a guaranteed place in Boston with tour company. There’s a full list of international travel partners here:
For the UK, Sports Tours International is the place to go.
Virgin Money London Marathon
In 2018, a world record number of runners – 386,050 to be precise – coughed up £39 to enter the Virgin Money London Marathon ballot, a huge increase on 2017, making London the most popular marathon on the planet. However, with just 50,000 places up for grabs, that’s a lot of disappointed runners.
Back in 2010 I was one of them. The Virgin Money London Marathon was the first marathon I ever entered but, like so many people, I didn’t get lucky in the ballot and instead I finished my first marathon under the Arc de Triomph in Paris.
Since then I’ve been lucky enough to run London twice, in 2012 (thanks to the lovely people at Adidas) and 2015, with a Good For Age place. I’ve entered the ballot every year and not been lucky once. So how can you get into the London Marathon without going through the ballot.
Ballot entry: Opens in May each year for a period of 5 days.
Join a running club
All British Athletics affiliate clubs can apply for London Marathon places. The number of places each club gets to pass on to its runners is based on some quite complicated rules but essentially if you’re in a club that’s got 10-150 runners there’ll be one spot, 151-250 two spots, 251-350 three spots and four for any club with more than 351 runners. Most clubs then dish out tickets in a club ballot and it doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that those are significantly better odds than you get in the open ballot.
Run the London Marathon for charity
The London Marathon is probably the most famous charity run in the world and for most people this is the easiest way into the race. More than £890 million has been raised since the event started in 1981. Most of it by that bloke who carries a fridge on his back.
Each year the London Marathon organisers produce a handy list of charity places.
To secure a place you’ll still need to pay a fee and you’ll be asked to commit to minimum fundraising pledge for your chosen charity. How much you need to raise for a charity place in the London Marathon varies but on average you’re looking at around £2,000. That’s arguably a bigger challenge than running the race itself.
Run a London Marathon Good for Age qualifying time
If you’re fast enough – and you’re a UK resident – getting into the London Marathon gets a whole lot easier. Though with the number of runners qualifying for a “Good For Age” guaranteed places increasing by more than 800 on the 2017, even this route looks certain to become more difficult.
Qualification times for the Virgin Money London Marathon 2019 are reviewed each year but for 2018, Good for age places were allocated to runners who ran a full marathon in the same time, or faster than, the times listed below since 1 January 2016.
It’s also worth noting that Good For Age places are worked on the age you’ll be on London Marathon race day, not the day you ran your time. Potentially good news if you’re tipping over into a new bracket.
The deadline for London Marathon Good for Age entries is usually the end of June each year. You’re notified if you meet the grade within approximately 10 days and then you have a short time to complete the acceptance and payment. This last step is vital, I should know, in 2017 I forgot to do it and couldn’t understand why my You’re In magazine wasn’t hitting my doormat in January.
Tokyo Marathon
The Tokyo Marathon is the last of the six majors I need to land my Six Star medal but logistically it’s one of the toughest to access and not just because of the travel and language barriers. Around 320,000 runners enter the ballot chasing just 35,500 places. The qualifying times are rapid too, I’d have to run 20 minutes faster to qualify for Tokyo than London and half an hour quicker than I would to meet Boston’s minimum qualifying time. Basically if you can qualify for Tokyo, you’re in all of the other majors too.
Ballot entry: Opens at the start of August and runs for a month.
Entry fee: 12,800 YEN (£88.00) in 2018 for overseas runners.
Run a Tokyo Marathon qualifying time
As part of Tokyo Marathon’s Run as One programme there are 300 overseas places for runners who meet qualifying criteria. As with London, you’ll have to have run a certified race in the two years prior to the Tokyo race date (e.g. for 2018 you had to run a time in 2016 or 2017). And Tokyo has high expectations.
- Men’s Full Marathon qualifying time: 2:21:01 – 2:45:00
- Women’s Full Marathon qualifying time: 2:52:01 – 3:30:00
The application period runs from the start to the end of July each year. With those who make the cut being notified towards the last week of August. Places then need to be confirmed and coughed up for by the end of August. Here’s where to apply.
Run the Tokyo Marathon for charity
Organised under the banner The Day We Unite, the Run It With Heart charity programme offers two charity routes into the Tokyo Marathon. There are 4,000 places up for grabs on a first come, first served basis for people willing to raise 100,000 YEN (£685). The application for charity entries opens on the 1 July.
Book a Tokyo Marathon sports tour
Of all the majors, Tokyo is probably the one race where a sports tour might be your best bet and there’s a decent list of marathon tour companies offering guaranteed places.
Prices vary depending on your itinerary but as an example, a 4-night single person trip with 209 Events would be £3,000.
Bank of America Chicago Marathon
The Chicago Marathon was my first American marathon back in 2013. Apparently I ran it before good cameras had arrived on smartphones. I loved everything about Chicago, it was fast, flat and well organised without any of the pre-race faff that New York and Boston throws at you.
Applications: Open at the end of October and close at the end of November each year.
Entry fee: $220 (£160) in 2018 for overseas runners.
Run a Chicago Marathon qualifying time
Qualifying times for the Chicago Marathon can be run on a USA Track & Field-certified course and a spokesperson for the Chicago Marathon confirmed that: “We do accept qualifying times from non-US marathons. USATF is called out specifically, but we also accept times from races certified by other governing bodies (ex. IAAF certified marathons).” Though rather less helpfully they also confirmed: “We do not have a list of certified races that runners can participate in to gain a guaranteed entry.”
I found a list of USATF certified US marathons here and I have heard from runners in the World Marathon Majors group on Facebook who have successfully used UK races to qualify.
Applications for the qualification open around the 24 October each year and close at the end of November.
Run the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle four times
Like the New York Road Runners entry route, runners who have completed the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K four or more times since 2000 and have signed up for the current year’s Shamrock Shuffle get a guaranteed spot.
Run the Chicago Marathon for charity
As with all of the other majors, it’s possible to run the Chicago Marathon for charity. Fundraising requirements vary from charity to charity, but the minimum target will be at least $1,000 (USD) if the entry is claimed during the application window and $1,500 (USD) if the entry is claimed following the application window.
Only charities that are part of the official Bank of America Chicago Marathon Charity Program have access to guaranteed entries.
Book a Chicago Marathon sports tour
Yep, you guessed it, you can buy a guaranteed place in the Chicago Marathon through a marathon tour company and the two official partners for the UK are 2:09 Events and Sports Tours International. With 2:09 Events a 4night, hotel, flights and entry package for one person was priced at £2,319.
BMW Berlin Marathon
I’ve run Berlin three times, in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Each time I got in through the regular ballot but I think Berlin’s popularity has grown significantly since 2012. I’ve applied each year since 2015 and failed each time.
In recent years the profile of Berlin has been given a serious boost by elite runners chasing world records, and the flat, wide roads of the German capital have become the place to go to chase a personal best. It’s also a really well organised, great fun race in one of Europe’s best cities.
I couldn’t find recent stats for the total ballot entries but to give you an indication back in 2014 more than 70,000 people entered and in 2017, close to 44,000 runners started the main race. Those ballot numbers are only likely to have swelled, creating much more competition for places. That said, the Berlin Marathon ballot is free, so it’s worth a try.
Ballot entry: Opens mid October and closes early in November.
The Berlin Marathon entry fee: €108 (£96) in 2018.
Berlin Marathon Good for Age qualifying times and entry
Along with Tokyo, Berlin is the toughest race of all to qualify for with a good for age time. You need to be very fast to secure a guaranteed place this way.
Male Runners
- Age 18 to 44 (age group 2000 to 1974): under 2:45 hours
- Age 45 to 59 (age group 1973 to 1959): under 2:55 hours
- Age 60 and up (age group 1958 und older): under 3:25 hours
Female Runners
- Age 18 to 44 (age group 2000 to 1974): under 3:00 hours
- Age 45 to 59 (age group 1973 to 1959): under 3:20 hours
- Age 60 and up (age group 1958 und older): under 4:10 hours
Registration for Berlin Marathon Good for Age entries usually opens mid-October and closes in early November.
Skate your way into the race
The Berlin Marathon also hosts an in-line skating event over the same course as the marathon. In 2018, they’re running a Skate to Run scheme where anyone who completes the event on wheels can earn themselves a place in the marathon, though this is limited to 300 places though.
Run the Berlin Marathon for charity
The charity option is there for people who want to run Berlin too and each year there’s a list of UK charities you can fundraise for on the official site. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the race organisers opening up donation places. For the 2018 race an additional 1,000 spots were allocated to the RTL Donation Marathon programme for €168 (£150).
Book a Berlin Marathon sports tour
There are plenty of companies offering Berlin Marathon tours with guaranteed places, including the usual suspects I’ve mentioned earlier. One company I can recommend is Running Crazy. I know people who’ve run Berlin with them and been very happy. The hotel location is spot on for the race start and exploring the city. So well worth a look.
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