For those who were lucky enough to get a place in the next London Marathon, congratulations! However, for those who weren’t so lucky, you still have an opportunity to get a place through HRC.
As an England Athletics Affiliated Club, HRC is assigned one or two London Marathon places for members who were unsuccessful in the main ballot. The precise number of assigned marathon places is dependent on how many members we have at a specific point in time (usually around the end of July), who are over the age of 18 and registered with England Athletics.
HRC will allocate the assigned marathon places through our own ballot, which is drawn during the AGM in December. To be eligible to enter the ballot members must be able to confirm that they:
- are entering the draw for themselves
- are available to take part in the London Marathon on the specified date
- are willing to pay the standard London Marathon entry fee if successful
- are a First Claim member of HRC
- have entered the TCS London Marathon ballot and received a “regret” email (keep a copy of this)
- have NOT run the London Marathon within the last FIVE years
- have supported the club by undertaking one or more voluntary roles within the previous 12 months*
* If you have not already undertaken any voluntary activity for the Club you may want to consider how you could do this before the end of November so that you don’t lose out on the opportunity to enter the ballot. Committee members, coaches and others carrying out official roles for the club will automatically meet this criterion. However, there are loads of other voluntary activities that members can get involved with, such as marshalling for HRC Time Trials and HRC organised races, and helping out on the HRC stand at events.
The next HRC London Marathon Ballot will open in November 2026.