The Virgin London Marathon

What is The Virgin London Marathon?

A new sponsor, but still the same superbly organised mass participation marathon through the streets of London, which has been run every year since 1981. The course is flat and fast and takes in many of London's famous sights before ending in the Mall just in front of Buckingham Palace.

How do you get a place in the Virgin London Marathon?

Entry to the Virgin London Marathon is via a ballot system due to the huge numbers of people wishing to run each year. The popularity of the event leads to the ballot filling out quickly.

Those who enter the ballot are informed in early October whether they've been successful. There are other methods of entry for other runners such as overseas entries, good for age entries, UK Athletics club entries and further details can be found here.

In addition, The Virgin London Wheelchair Marathon is open to elite disabled athletes who meet the qualifying specifications. Find out more about how to get a place in the wheelchair race here.

And for those aged between 11 and 17 looking to compete against the best new talent in British road running, they can enter the Virgin Mini London Marathon. The course is 3 miles long and is open to entrants from the 9 regions of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and will include teams from all 33 London Boroughs.

Run for charity in the Virgin London Marathon

If you don't secure a place in the ballot or haven't been able to enter before the ballot closed, you may still be able to run with a charity entry place.

Most major charities have a set number of entry places in the Virgin London Marathon each year, which they allocate to runners on the basis that they will raise an agreed amount of money for the charity. Find out more about charity entries Virgin London Marathon.

If you'd like to receive helpful fundraising information from charities, or you'd be interested in running the Virgin London Marathon for charity, please browse through our charity listings to find your chosen charity and get in touch.

If you do secure a place through the ballot, you can still put that to good use by running for charity as a ballot place runner.

Where can I find out more about the Virgin London Marathon?

Visit the official Virgin London Marathon website for more details.

Go to the London Marathon's Top Events charity listings.