The Flora London Marathon usually receives much more interest from participants than it can accommodate in the tightly packed streets of London. Should you gain entry into the London Marathon, you will either be very lucky or very talented or will have worked hard in raising money for your favourite charity organisation.
There are four main ways to enter the London Marathon:
- Apply through the online ballot system
- Obtain an entry through a charity
- Enter as a championship runner
- Through your running club
- Get a good for your age place
The Online Ballot System
The Flora London Marathon, accept UK entrants through an online ballet system. The 2009 ballet system is now closed, however if you are interested in entering the 2010 Virgin London Marathon, you may do so here. 2010 Virgin London Marathon Online Ballot Entry Form For UK Residents.
The way the ballot system tends to work is that expressions of interest are taken until 120,000 applications are received. From these, the selected entrants will be drawn randomly.
You are usually advised in early October on whether you were accepted or not.
If you are not a UK resident, then you can enter the overseas online ballot. The 2009 has now closed, and the 2010 ballot has not yet opened.
To find out when the overseas ballot for 2010 becomes active, you can periodically check the London Marathon Web Page, just be sure to register relatively early as there’s usually a lot of interest in the event.
Obtain a Charity Place
If you would like to raise money for a charity organisation, or your luck was not with you in the online ballot, you can register your interest in a charity place.
A selected number of charity organisations are allocated entry spots in the London Marathon. To enter this way, you need to register your interest with one of these organisation.
Charity places are not given out free. Each charity has to pay £250 per place and you will be expected to raise a large sum of money to cover this. Expect to have to raise in excess of £1,000 for your place in the event.
Follow the link to learn more about running for charity.
Running the London Marathon for charity.
Fact: In 2009, the Flora London Marathon Official Charity is the Children’s Trust of Tamworth.
Entering as a Championship Runner
If you are an elite runner, you can gain an automatic entry to the London Marathon.
The championship qualifying standard is 2:45 for men and 3:15 for women. Half marathon qualifying standard are also recognised. For men the half marathon time is 1:15 and for women 1:30. Qualifying times for the 2009 Flora London Marathon must have been achieved since the 1st of January 2007. For the 2010 Virgin London Marathon, this cut-off date is likely to be the 1st of January 2008.
Runners must be UK Athletics Affiliate Club members and UK runners are required to send proof of qualifying performances (either a photocopied race certificate or a newspaper results clipping) and proof of ID (a photocopy of passport, driving license or birth certificate).
More details can be found here.
Entering Through a Running Club
UK Athletics-affiliated clubs via England Athletics, Scottish Athletics, Welsh Athletics, the Northern Ireland Athletics Federation are eligible to apply for club entries into the event. Entries are allocated according to the number of first claim members in the club.
If you are a member of a UKA affiliated athletics club, talk with your club about obtaining an entry into the London Marathon for 2010.
Obtaining a “Good For Your Age” Place
If you have achieved an age-based qualifying standard then you may apply for an automatic entry by submitting proof of your performance. The good for age entry system is now closed for the 2009 race, but check the London Marathon website periodically if you wish to participate in the 2010 Virgin London Marathon.
The qualifying standards are as follows:
| MEN 18-40 | 2:45:00-3:00:00 | WOMEN 18-49 | 3:15:00 -3:45:00 |
| MEN 41-59 | sub 3:15:00 | WOMEN 50-54 | sub 4:00:00 |
| MEN 60-64 | sub 3:30:00 | WOMEN 55 - 59 | sub 4:15:00 |
| MEN 65-69 | sub 4:00:00 | WOMEN 60 - 64 | sub 4:30:00 |
| MEN 70+ | sub 5:00:00 | WOMEN 65 - 69 | sub 5:30:00 |
| WOMEN 70+ | sub 6:30:00 |
No comments:
Post a Comment