Cost to sign up to London Marathon 2013

I'm planning on signing up to the above on Monday.

How much does it cost?

Thanks in advance

Sarah

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Comments

  • stutyrstutyr ✭✭✭
    For a ballot entry its between £30 and £40.

    Assuming its the same as previous years you can opt to pay this when you apply to give to you a slightly better chance of getting in, with the payment being donated to charity if you are unsuccessful.

    You do realise that if you sign up on Monday that you are not guaranteed a place? You have around a 1-in-5 chance in being accepted if you manage to successfully register.

  • I reckon its much less than a 1 in 5 chance from my experience.

    Marathon entry is the cheap bit. You have to factor in a couple of pairs of shoes - running kit - a few practice race entries and travel and accommodation if you're not local.
  • Thank you for your advise. I'm sure I had read it was £100 and that was why I was raising the question.

  • entry is cheap -it is the rest if you have to stay overnight etc image
  • I'm lucky with that regard my sister has a house in London.
  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    I actually worked this out when I was travelling back from London. The cost of the marathon for me was:

    - £35 entry
    - £240 trainers (x3 pairs on the go)
    - £100 clothes (tights, tshirts, hi viz gear)
    - £150 nutrition (gels/energy drinks/protein shakes)
    - £170 Travel to London (2 return tickets)
    - £60 Stuff from the Expo
    - £120 Eating in London (for 2 people, 3 days)
    - £15 Travel through London.
    - £0 - Accommodation in london - crashed on cousin's boat.

    = £900.

    Admittedly - some of the stuff are for use after the event as well and I consider to be a "long term" purchase (e.g. part of the box of gels that I still have left, winter running tights etc) but it's good to have an idea of it before you start.

    Entry is cheap but you need to factor in the likelihood of getting in. I waited 5 years for my ballot place.

  • Do you not recommend giving it a try? you do seem quite negative?
  • Sarah in you situation, I'd say give it a go and enjoy image
  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    There's no harm in trying image and i'll be trying again image on Monday morning!

    I'm not trying to be negative but I think you need to be realistic about the possibility of you getting in (which I wish you the best of luck for). You were asking about the cost of entry so I thought that i'd give you a round answer of how much it costs. I was amazed when I worked it out - but honestly - I would have paid that for the experience.

  • Thank you I do appreciate your advice.

    I am new to running outdoors and have a lot to consider.

  • If you are gonna go for the ballot only , it is about 5 to 1 that you get picked. I just kept doing it til I got picked (this year). In the meantime just train and do ther races unless you wanna raise for a charity.
  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    @Sarah - I don't know if you're an experienced runner but if you're a beginner - pop along to the beginners section and find yourself a plan to aim for and go from there. I'm guessing from your name that you're a woman so just make sure that you're wearing the right shoes and a good bra image

    Good Luck with the Ballot and starting to get running!

  • Sticky88Sticky88 ✭✭✭
    stutyr wrote (see)
    Assuming its the same as previous years you can opt to pay this when you apply to give to you a slightly better chance of getting in, with the payment being donated to charity if you are unsuccessful.
    Is this really true? If you opt to pay upon application, you have a slightly better chance??? I paid last year, and all I got was an oversized fleece image
  • Most of the items on the cost list will apply regardless of which marathon you do. If you're already a regular (all weather) runner then you'll probably have most of the gear already, and so the cost only really comes into play if you're having to stay in London overnight and need accomodation. Personally I probably had to buy 1 extra pair of shoes that I wouldn't have worn through if I'd just been doing my regular training, plus it cost me £15 to get to and from the expo (which I recouped by stocking up on consumables for the rest of the year at discount prices), £10 for a place on my club's coach to the start and £9 for a train home. The only clothing I bought was a couple of pairs of socks as I'd worn through the old ones.

  • Sticky - in previous years if you bequeath your entry fee and you are unsuccessful in the ballot, you then get entered into a prize draw for a place, therefore increasing your chance slightly.
  • Sticky88 wrote (see)
    stutyr wrote (see)
    Assuming its the same as previous years you can opt to pay this when you apply to give to you a slightly better chance of getting in, with the payment being donated to charity if you are unsuccessful.
    Is this really true? If you opt to pay upon application, you have a slightly better chance??? I paid last year, and all I got was an oversized fleece image
    I think they have a draw for a few places just for people who bequeath? Given that 100,000+ people get rejected however it's not really worth bequeathing just to get in that draw. Bequeath because you want to make a charity donation, and if you're lucky enough to win a place then it's an unexpected bonus.
  • Sticky88Sticky88 ✭✭✭
    Badly Drawn Bloke wrote (see)
    Sticky - in previous years if you bequeath your entry fee and you are unsuccessful in the ballot, you then get entered into a prize draw for a place, therefore increasing your chance slightly.

    That didn't happen last year, did it??? If it did, I must have missed the very small print, nevertheless, I did feel that I MAY stand a better chance if I opted to pay up front - obviously didn't work.

    Will have to try again on monday...to pay or not to pay, that is the question. To be decided on Monday!

  • Sticky88Sticky88 ✭✭✭
    Beware Of The Fish wrote (see)
    Bequeath because you want to make a charity donation, and if you're lucky enough to win a place then it's an unexpected bonus.
    Indeed! So well said image
  • The bequeathing thing doesn't guarantee you anything. This year was the first year I didn't bequeath and also the first I got in - I reckon they figured that if they were going to get any more money out of me they'd have to give me a place image 
  • Doesnt the bequeathment thing give you a fleece/jacket/watch or whatever if you dont get in ? Expensive way to shop mind you.
  • Sticky88Sticky88 ✭✭✭
    cougie wrote (see)
    Doesnt the bequeathment thing give you a fleece/jacket/watch or whatever if you dont get in ? Expensive way to shop mind you.
    Yep, you get an oversized fleece even though the label says small. I wore my reject fleece to keep me warm at the recent Paris Marathon which I signed up for after I got rejected for the VLM. Somewhere in a Paris charity shop is a red VLM fleece...
  • You also have to consider the money you will save. Friday night out on the town = drinks £40, kebab £5, taxi home £15 = £60. Every Friday for three months comes to £780!
  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭
    Kryten wrote (see)
    You also have to consider the money you will save. Friday night out on the town = drinks £40, kebab £5, taxi home £15 = £60. Every Friday for three months comes to £780!


    Excellent accounting.  image

    Then add on the £50 -100 you can get from flogging your medal on ebay afterwards, you're quids in really.

  • kaffeegkaffeeg ✭✭✭

    GOOD LUCK!

    Haven just done the marathon on sunday, i say go for it!  I have watched nearly each and every one, whether on tv or outside my flat (when i lived in the docklands) and always aspired to do it.  It was great. (if you ignore the pain!).  I would love to do it again, and be slightly less delirious so that I could soak up the amazing atmosphere all the way around.  There is nothing like doing a race where you have so much support for the public.

    I've entered the ballot twice, and not got a place (got a fleece that was so cheap and made of hideous material I couldn't even touch it - yuck!) I got my place through a charity and needed to raise £1700.

    I'd say start running outside now, whether or not you get in.  If you leave it until October, when you will find out if you got a place or not, you will find the marathon harder.

  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭

    I entered for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. All of these years I bequeathed and didn't get in. For this year I didn't bequeath and got in. As Screamapillar says, I felt that they needed to let me in if they wanted to get any more money out of me.

    The way I now see it is if I enter and bequeath, and my friend enters but doesn't bequeath, if VLM give my friend the place, they're getting my money AND my friend's money, so they're getting double. If they let me in and not my friend, they'd only get half.

  • I've signed up today and i havent payed because my thinking is this, if all the people they reject have opted to donate their entry fee, they will raise more money. but as i am planning to run for a charity with my place anyway (provided im lucky enough to get one) i thought im not paying image also when are you actually supposed to pay the entry fee ? i was expecting to pay today, i went down to the bank and everything !
  • So am I right in thinking that if I've chosen to bequeath my entry fee then it will be taken from my bank account straight away rather than in October? Just wondering as I couldn't find any info on the VLM website and, unsurprisingly, the phone line is busy!
  • Hi I think you have been given a lot of conflicting information, I have entered the london and got in twice and I have never bequeathed my entry fee or had to pay in advance to stand a better chance of getting a place.  Also it cost me £28 (i am a member of a club so its a bit cheaper) but it has never been £40.  It is still the cheapest one to enter.  I have entered again for next year and have not bequeathed my fee or paid in advance.  If its not too late go for it!!
  • I am trying to enter through my GFA time, however nowhere on the VLM site does it mention the race fee.  Is it free or is it like expensive jewelry, if you have to ask the price your probably can't afford it......

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    SR - They don't appear to be forthcoming on cost do they. GFA gets you a guaranteed entry but you still have to pay for it, which will likely be 30-odd quid.  Presumably you'd find out when they send you the GFA entry form.

    Having recently achieved a HM qualifying time for a Championship entry, I've just consulted the site and apparently need to check back at the end of May for more details.  My toes are positively tingling with anticipation.  image

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