1. The National Ballot for British Residents only
     Only entry 2010 already closed!

Race date: 25 April 2010

If you are not lucky enough to be a British resident, maybe you know a helpful gentleman or lady ...

The Online Ballot Entry 2010 is already closed.

120,000 ballot entries were accepted for 2010. It took only 2 days and 16 hours until the ballot closed. Successful applicants will be notified at early October.

Note: There is a seperate Online Ballot Entry for overseas runners
(see below No. 7).

2. Charities - how most Brits run the race

In Great Britain all kinds of charities are very popular. This way of helping each other is tradition grown over centuries. Maybe the somewhat restricted social system has contributed to this, too. There is an unbelievable vast number of different charity organisations and countless helpful people work for them for free. All over the country, especially on market days, friendly collectors are part of the main streets in British town centers.

More than half of all the British marathon participants run in aid for one of the charities. Many of them got even their number from their charity. The charities buy these "golden bond places". It is reported that they pay up to 250 Pound (!) for one start. No wonder they expect their participants to collect quite an amount of money. An aid runner has to contribute at least 1000 Pound and more. Collecting a record sum a runner can even win a journey to one of the big marathons overseas. Most of the charities care for their runners during race day on the route, at the finish and have a party in the evening.

Of course, for Runners from abroad this way of entering depends on how established the chosen charity is in their home country.

The charity tradition is the main reason for what makes the London Marathon really special. Almost the whole event is sort of a carnival. Lots of participants are not very well trained for a race of this kind of distance. They just want to finish it and contribute to their charity. Lots of runners wear colourful and sometimes heavy costumes, often really special ones. However - don't wonder being overtaken by a lion, a batman or one of the many Elvises.

According to Julie Welch's book (26.2 - Running the London Marathon) in 1999 ten popular costumes were: Big Ben, 8ft pirate, Rhino, 8-man centipede, Man sitting on toilet, Tree, The Queen, Womble, Camel, Pot Noodles.

With my finishing time of 4:04 I ended up still within the first 10,000 of all the 35,688 finishers in 2007 (but was overtaken by a huge parrot and a woman talking on her mobile phone). My advice: Don't choose London to run a personal best, just enjoy the day. But I have to admit, I always try to run a pb.

Charitiy listing
 

3. Good For Age - Guaranteed starts for fast runners - UK residents only
   

note: Men sub 2:45 and women sub 3:15 are supposed
to join the championship competition

Official Announcement:
To apply for a good for age entry, you'll need to send us the following:
Proof of performance - A photocopy of your running results, for example a certificate or newspaper clipping. The results will need to be from a marathon completed in 2008 or 2009.
Proof of age - A photocopy of your photocard driving license, passport or birth certificate.

Your application will need to reach us by 21 August 2009. Late entries aren't accepted under any circumstances and it’s your responsibility to make sure everything we need reaches us by the closing date, so we recommend you send everything to us by recorded delivery.

Your application will be reviewed by our panel and if it's accepted we'll send you a good for age entry form. The completed entry form will need to be returned to us by 4 September 2009.

The good for age entry system is open to UK residents only.

Write to this address:

Good For Age
Flora London Marathon
PO Box 3460
London SE1 0YA
 

Also see official website.
 

4. Club entries

British Sports Clubs get numbers according to their numbers of members. 
Look at Serpentine Running Club to see an example how they distribute them.

This is the officially published announcement (dates provisional):

UK athletics clubs will be given entries for the 2010 Flora London Marathon according to the number of first claim members in the Club.

Applications must be made by the Club Secretary on official Club headed paper stating the number of first claim club members over the age of 18, which area the club is affiliated to, and the club secretaries contact details.

All applications for Club entries must be received in the London Marathon office no later than 20th November 2009.

All completed entry forms must be received in the London Marathon office no later than 8th January 2010.

We also require the address to read The Flora London Marathon.

Please write to:

Club Entries
Flora London Marathon
PO Box 3460
London
SE1 0YA

also see official website
 

5. British Championship Entries

The following is the officially published announcement:

You'll need to have completed a marathon or half marathon in the same time, or faster than, the times listed below – these are the official championship qualifying performance times. Your qualifying time must have been achieved after 1 January 2008:

To apply for a championship entry, you'll need to send us the following:

Proof of performance - A photocopy of your running results, for example a certificate or newspaper clipping. The results will need to be from a marathon completed in 2008 or 2009.
Proof of UK club membership - A photocopy of your athletics club membership card.

Please send your championship application to this address:

Championship entries
Virgin London Marathon
PO Box 3460
London
SE1 0YA

Your entry will need to reach us by 2 January 2010. We'll then send you an entry form to complete - this will need to arrive back to us by 8 January 2010.

Late entries aren't accepted under any circumstances, so we recommend you send everything to us by recorded delivery. Please note it’s the responsibility of the runner, not their athletics club, to make sure we receive all the information we need before the closing date. We look forward to hearing from you.

also see official website
 

6. Via Travel Agency for overseas runners
    closing date for 2010: mid january 2010

This is the most successful and easiest way for runners who don't reside in Britain of getting to the start line - and the most expensive. Only when booking at a travel agency your start is guaranteed. You will have to book transport and accommodation with it (certainly you would prefer to organise this on your own but that's the price for it).

However, some agencies may sell the number without the journey (at higher price). Just give it a try.

Be aware that once more the marathon organisers will increase the price for the number significantly. In 2009 German travel agencies charged at least 190 Euros, which equals with around 250 US$.

See the list of Travel Agencies.

7. The Overseas Ballot Entry - already closed for 2010

Online Ballot Entry 2010 for overseas runners is already cosed.

The London Marathon only accepts payments via credit card (Master, Visa). The price is 65 Pound Sterling (82 € = 127 US$). You are going to get the lottery's result in early october. If unsuccessful there should be time enough to book a number via travel agency then.

Online Ballot Entry for overseas runners

8. Final Chance

Maybe the company you work for is a sponsor of the marathon. Or your company is a client of one of the sponsoring companies. Sponsors get guaranteed places to use as an incentive.