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ran the 30th and they just used it as the strapline on the back of the medal - in the same way they used thanks a billion this year.
don't remember anything more special than that?
Ive seen several people post that they entered the ballot who have never run. Vmlm dont need to capitalise on the wave of emotion etc from the current event to fill their race. I can't help thinking that if they opened it say 01 june it would alleviate the issue a little.
The ballot opened during this year's race didn't it? I had the tracker app on my phone and after the race finished I thought I'd removed the app but they sent me another bloody message reminding me to enter.
I've entered the ballot as would like to run it fit, to see what i can truly do time wise - but i'm ever so grateful i got the opportunity to run it this year, was an amazing experience that i'll never forget.
I don't understand what having a million people enter the ballot achieves though, other than they can brag about it. The course simply cannot handle any more runners so they are at capacity with who can actually run the race. The volume of people left repeatedly disappointed will rise as will the number of people completely unprepared and finishing way outside the race cut off thus leading to some of this years bad press.
The only downside with running the event repeatedly is that the impact of the day diminishes a little compared to experiencing it 1 or 2 times. Don't get me wrong, it is still hugely exciting and a big part of my households calendar, however the scale of everything is no longer quite so overwhelming. Though I did experience a couple of new things this year in that I took my kids to the expo and I got to start on the FGFA start.
I do hope they don't accept more entrants next year, unless they change the route to wider roads they've reached their capacity. IMHO they had too many this year which led to the fiasco with the late starts and the bad press this year. Will be interesting to see what they do re cut offs and pacers too.
There are lots of other marathons out there to do. I've done quite a few marathons but have no intention of running London again.
I think they have a lot to think about over the next few months and balancing the interests of inclusivity with the actual reality of the fact that it simply cannot just go on all day.
I didn't have too many issues with space this year being on the yellow start, I had a pretty clear first 3 miles. The one thing that always gets me is how the red/yellow start seems to merge at 3 miles with runners from the green/blue starts shooting for a time a few minutes slower. That is where it gets congested for a few miles trying to work your way through to the people from those starts running at the same pace as you.
🌎 The most popular marathon on earth
🙌 A new World Record
An incredible 457,861 people entered the ballot hoping to secure a place in the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon.
They'll be aiming for 500k+ next year.
While the VLM is a race I wish to run every year while I can - my target being till I am 74 when I would have done 50 consecutive London's (not sure who a future sponsor will be) I feel it best to say each to their own for those who have a different view about the race.
Why not see it as just another channel o the TV? if you don't like it, switch to another channel.
I have unfinished business with the marathon, I want a shot at it uninjured and with uninterrupted training to see if i can get that sub 4hr time.
This year my last long run was 22nd Feb, and very little running from then to the race. I still ran with thigh taped and knee in a brace.. and with a hernia!.... yet still posted a 4:34:02. Was never going to miss my chance of running London.
Had my hernia repair 5 days after London... just another 3 weeks to go before i can start running again!
I didn't find it that congested this year, although maybe that's because I'd heard lots of stories about how bad it would be and the reality wasn't like that. Wouldn't like to see too many more folk though!
Good luck in your endeavours, Portlanders.
Stu, I think that would create an impossible scenario, unless the various groupings had an equal percentage of spaces allocated and so there would be no advantage in lying on the form as you can only sit in one pot. I still think with the numbers in question it isn't feasible.
On the vlml fb post announcing this, there were some proper silly comments. My fav being the person who said that there were' plenty of other fab marathon events out there for seasoned runners'. Basically suggesting that vmlm should be left for beginners. That was a point I couldn't not respond too! Why would seasoned runners want to miss the worlds biggest marathon!
I know this will fly in the face of the current thinking on "inclusivity" but London marathon is so over-subscribed that places have to be restricted somehow, and every year most people who enter the ballot end up disappointed. It comes down to basic arithmetic. But every year people complain about how unfair it is that they didn't get in.
The entry system isn't perfect (I don't agree with the new system of "equality" and GFA, where 3000 men and 3000 women get places. This sounds fine, until you factor in that women get about 45 minutes more qualifying tiem across the board, and that there are many more men than women chasing these places. So not only do men need to run faster, they also need to beat that time by a greater margin because of competition. A much fairer way would have been to give places to the 6000 people to beat the qualifying time by the highest margin, regardless of sex. This is equality. Actually it's not quite equality, because men have to run faster than women, but it's fairer than a system designed to ensure that 3000 women are seen on the GFA start lines, come what may)
However, if anyone really wants to run London, there's nothing stopping them. But it takes a little bit of work - you need to either train hard enough to get GFA or you need to put your efforts into fundraising and take a charity place. Not easy maybe, but either is beyond anyone who really wants to be there.
The incident at the back of the race with the 7.5 hour pacer was unfortunate, hopefully next year they'll be more honest about the fact that it's a race, and that it isn't open-ended and there's a time limit. Maybe that means some of the "fat and slow" runners will be disappointed, but there comes a point where you have to say no.
London marathon can't be all things to all people, and someone will always be disappointed.
Rodeo, my argument to whingers with the usual '10 straight years of rejection' is that there are 2 guaranteed ways of entering London, both require hard work so if you want it bad enough then don't expect it to land on your lap.
Regarding women times, if you look at the rankings for this year, 2300 men have run a sub 3 mara and 1800 women a sub 3.45 so far. I appreciate that isn't an exact example as I include elites, champs level etc in there, but from an equality perspective, when you factor in that the split in a mara is 60/40 male v female roughly, it suggests that the GFA times are about right.
But I agree that those that don't get in on the ballot shouldn't whinge about it, if they really want to run then get to work on the alternative ways of getting a race place, club/GFA/charity.
Funny enough I've been offered a charity place, need to raise only £750, I've declined.
rodeoflip - if you were a female you wouldn't disagree with the new GFA equality rulings.
I put very little effort in to the fundraising, i didn't hold any events or the such like, just opened an online charity page and shared it on Facebook - I have 32 friends and 12 donated. But i also went to the village coffee morning wearing my charity vest and asked for sponsorship from the folk there.
In total i raised £1,121.
I'm just saying that £2k for a charity place may sound a lot to raise, it's indeed a lot of money to me - but it can be achievable.
I'm not one of these that will go on and ask for donations year in, year out - but for a one-time experience, if i knew then what i know now, i would have applied for a charity place.
I did my first marathon at London, I had a ballot place but chose to raise some money for charity and without much effort raised £900, that was 24 years ago.
I've done quite a few marathons now and don't think anyone would sponsor me now unless it was a particular charity that they supported, even then I would struggle, but I would do other stuff to raise the money if I needed to.
Shades, I don't disagree that many seasoned runners would rather run elsewhere than London, I think what irritated me was the attitude that vmlm should be left to the charity and slower runners when it is a gold standard RACE.
My first London in 2014 was my first mara and I had a charity place. I only needed to raise £1,250. I didn't hold any events, I just put it out there to family, colleagues and social media contacts. I raised nearly 2k in the end. Imagine if I had put on some events!
I take the point that you can't be doing that every year mind and I would struggle to get that support again. However I am thinking of taking a charity place to get me into Berlin next year if I fail again in the ballot. They must sell their places much cheaper than London do as even the big charities only want you to obtain circa £750. I'd feel fairly confident I could get that with nominal effort as it will have been 6 years since I last asked people.
Until they launched the 'majors' it wasn't difficult to get into Berlin. I did it I think it was the last year before there was a ballot, just first come first served, I was poised at 11 a.m. to get the least expensive price. I think the charity places are relatively new for Berlin, hence less funds to raise.
I expect as London's charity/Gold Bond places are more established and the demand is there they can demand higher funds to be raised.
Dave, yes I see a lot complain about this and I can see their point. I can get into the 3 US majors with my gfa. Berlin and Tokyo not a chance but only because I am not fast enough.
Portlanders, I suppose you could then justify paying circa £600 straight into that charity pot as your flight money so then only need £1300.
Has anyone considered Age Grading as a possible attempt at some sort of 'objectivity' to determine GFA times? Just a quick look through ages 50-79, M/F, with the help of Howard Grubb's tables shows a wide range of standards, from 58% (M72) to >74%(M57), and some significant differences between M and F; e.g.59%/65%. Sometimes favouring M and sometimes F.
But at the end of the day I guess it's their ball; their game and they make the rules. I understand that is simply a filter, through which they get the numbers they want, but there does seem to be a lot of 'unfairness' with the present system.