A record-breaking surge of interest has marked the lead-up to the 2027 London Marathon, with an unprecedented 1,338,544 people applying through the public ballot for the race scheduled on 25 April. This comfortably surpasses last year’s record of 1,133,813 applicants, underlining the event’s ever-growing global appeal.
The scale of participation has been matched by its impact. The 2026 edition saw 59,830 finishers, making it the largest marathon of its kind and reinforcing its status as the world’s biggest annual one-day fundraising event. With demand continuing to rise, ballot results for 2027 are set to be announced in early July, with entries allocated through a random draw.
Notably, this is the first time that applications from the UK alone have crossed the one million mark, with registrations showing near-equal representation between men and women—an encouraging sign of the sport’s widening reach.
The surge in interest follows a historic 2026 race, where Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe became the first athlete to run a sub-two-hour marathon in a competitive setting, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa set a new women’s world record, further elevating the race’s stature.
In response to this growing demand, organisers are actively exploring the possibility of expanding the 2027 event into a two-day format, spanning both Saturday and Sunday. Under this proposal, the elite women’s race—along with other qualified female runners and wheelchair events—could be held on one day, with the men’s elite and corresponding categories staged on the other. Mass participation races would likely take place across both days.