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London or Paris??
I've entered the ballot for London 2016, but I'd also like to do Paris in 2016. I've not run a marathon before and didn't know what to do...should I enter Paris and defer London if I get chosen? Should I risk waiting for the ballot result before entering Paris and risk missing out? Or should I stick with trying London in 2016 and Paris in 2017? So confused.
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Both are good races and both ideal as first marathons. Paris tends to be a bit quicker field overall and they do have far stricter cut offs than London is you are at that end of the field.
Your chances of getting in via the ballot to London are probably 1:16+ so not great so its sensible to have a back up plan.
The great thing about Paris is that you pay your 90-100 Euros and that's your Spring marathon booked. It's a well-organised race with a great course too. Keith L's point about the odds of making it past the ballot for London is a good one so if your heart's set on a Spring marathon, Paris is the safer bet.
The ballot for London is announced well before Paris sells out (at least in past years). Just wait and see if you get lucky or not, and then enter Paris if necessary.
I've done both and thought each was brilliant. Incredible support in London and amazing views in Paris.
I'd much rather have a race planned sp that I can plan my training and year round it.
DisneyPirate - London probably has something like 8000 ballot places, and this year they had something like 250000 entrants - so you've got about a 3% chance of being accepted in the ballot - I'm not saying it won't happen (someone has to get in!), but statistically it's unlikely.
I would book Paris - if you do get a place at London, you could easily defer it for a year and run it next year. If you would have to pay for travel / accomodation / etc. for London, then Paris isn't much more expensive - I was foolish enough to do both this year, and I paid about £90 for trains to London (from Cumbria) and about £100 per flight to Paris. Hotels cost about the same, so Paris needn't be any more expensive, depending on where you live.
The big advantage of Paris (apart from the scenery, the architecture, the amazing route, etc.) is that you pay your money and you're in, no faffing around. You know you have your place and you can make arrangements early.
Both are amazing marathons.