London marathon 2013

Womble78

Don't the charities have to pay London Marathon around £500 for each of their Golden Bond places?? And consequently that's why they have to demand upwards of £1500 from their runners in order to cover their costs and make sure they actually raise some money.

The big Half Marathons are charging around £45 these days so It's inconceivable London Marathon could be put on at a cost of £32 per person. Obviously the sponsorship does contribute somewhat to the running costs but there's a reason why New York charge over 5x what London do and that's because they don't allocate anywhere near as many charity places for their race and I'm pretty sure that the ones they do don't cost anything like £500

Speedy.G !!!!!!!!!

Still not had an email back yet and that was 10am. Is it like last year you only pay if you get accepted?

Sticky88

Speedy.G !!!!!!!!! wrote (see)

Still not had an email back yet and that was 10am. Is it like last year you only pay if you get accepted?

I registered this morning at 7:30am, and still no email confirmation, and nothing in the spam folder either. Some people seem to have received the emails - I wonder if this has got anything to do with if you decide to pay now or later.

[Deleted User]

Yup, you can pay when you're accepted or you can pay up front and get a rain jacket if you're not accepted.

danyul

Does anyone know whether the odds are stacked better or worse in the overseas ballot compared to the normal ballot?

literatin

I tried to enter this morning but every time I tried to submit the entry it just gave me the box reminding me I could 'donate my entry fee'. Stingy of me, perhaps, but I don't want a rain jacket and I would rather spend the money sponsoring someone who's actually running if I'm going to donate to charity. But did anyone else have this problem of not being able to enter without paying upfront?

Womble78

Jeez it's full already...that has to be a record.

As for the overseas ballot don't know for sure but 't 's hard to imagine it being any harder than the domestic one, this is from the Serpentine Running Club website:

"In principle, the overseas ballot works on the same basis as the UK ballot, except that the entrance fee is much higher (around £50 instead of around £25). Anecdotal evidence is that the chance of getting in through the overseas ballot is somewhat higher than the UK ballot (a fact presumably wholly unrelated to the higher profit margin that the London Marathon make on overseas entrants!)."

[Deleted User]

faithsdaddy - you need to ask your club how they allocate their places. at ours if you have a rejection letter you take that to the agm and it's sorted there. voting not usually required - we kind of sort it somehow - e'g. if you have a big birthday, just missed a gfa that sort of thing

compo 1

ballot closed well never mind I have Chester and will look for a spring one in 2013 any ideas of any and where

Ye Olde Dragon

I ran VLM this year - again.

I’ve applied 5 times and got in on 4 of them - sorry

But, having said that, I think I’ve outgrown it now. This year was my best time, but my worst experience. Too crowded, and because of the impending Olympics I’m told, a nightmare to get away from the finish!

I’ll be doing less crowded runs from now on, unless I keep my “speed” for another 8 years or so, then I’ll get in on a GFA!

Next spring, I’m going to go for the Great Welsh Marathon, as long as the wind is not too strong, a good course for PBs I’m told. Lots of people got GFAs this year.

Katy Main

A little disappointed to get home and find the ballot is already full. To be fair though at least it means I'm not hanging on to see if I've got a place - instead I can focus on finding something else I want to do. Still I'm a little sorry not to be able to register

[Deleted User]

Same old story, missed the boat. A GFA by July 13th is asking a bit too much. Perhaps a GFA for LM 2014?

hook andy

7 ballot attempts and 7 rejections - now I'm too late to even get in the ballot! Consequently, I won't be able to enter my club ballot because I will not have a rejection slip to put in. Looks like I'm off to Brighton instead.

[Deleted User]

How full is full? By which I mean how many spaces are there in the ballot and how many spaces are they balloting for?

AndrewB10

Just got my confirmation e mail

Womble78

Apparently the ballot is capped at 130,000. Some people say there's 20,000 ballot places available others say 30,000. Either way the odds aren't great...

Speedy.G !!!!!!!!!

My email came at 3.50 am. Not holding out that I will get a place. Odds def not great.

[Deleted User]

My confirmation email arrived at 2:15 am today in my spam box.

[Deleted User]

So the odds of getting in are either 4/1 or 6/1 (ish) depending on who you believe. That's better than most of the football coupons I put on every Sat but still it's an awful lot of those ugly rain jackets

[Deleted User]

True. If you donate your fee though, there's an added benefit of being entered into another ballot for those who donated and weren't selected. Not worth it to me though

[Deleted User]

I am the Sports Massage Therapist at a Halton Health and Fitness Centre (nr Aylesbury). We are running a completely free marathon clinic for local people running marathons in 2013 to help get your training started on the right foot. Clinic includes gait analysis, injury screening, sports massage and advice on training and technique.  See http://www.twogoodsportsmassage.co.uk/2/post/2012/11/free-marathon-clinic.html for full details.

Absolutely no obligation to buy any further packages but 20% of anything you do buy will be donated to a charity of your choice.