London Marathon Ballot system is a joke.

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  • Running RaRa - all clubs get places in the marathon.

    Elite runners get in. Any half decent runner can get in on a good for age.

    They're all real runners.
  • I'm an indecent runner then Cougs..... But you knew that already! image

  • Sad to say - I have missed out again too - I am 61 this year and running out of time!! last yearI ran in the Edinburgh marathon instead - just filled in the form, paid the money - it was easy!!! My son's girlfriend has a place and doesn't even run yet!!! I think i will call it a day now - londonmarathon has had enough Money from me!!

  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭

    I applied for the ballot for the first time last year and got it. It was well ace.

    I missed the GFA by 18 seconds so applied for the ballot again. Didn't get in.

    I don't have a problem with it being a random ballot. I cant see what system would work better

  • Jenny..........It doesnt cost a penny to apply.....you only pay if you get in......so why have they had enough money from you

     

  • CindersCinders ✭✭✭

    Maybe she bequeathed seren?  But there again you don't have to.

    I must admit I did like the 5 years rejected rule but hey ho.

  • the problem is now ... they have too many applying to make the 5 years rule work.it would have to be 25 years rejected and in  .....

     

  • CindersCinders ✭✭✭

    I think I'm working towards that one image

  • i'm working on a GFA but the way i struggled to hit 12 min miling yesterday...it might take a few years  image  image

  • VDOT52VDOT52 ✭✭✭
    They should just do it on ability. Forget age, sex and the % of rockinghorse shit you can muster.

    Fast come fast served so to speak.
  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭
    Berlin has a GFA thing. 2:45 for men and 3:00 for Simon or something like that.

    Boston is somewhere between that and London but that just seems to improve your odds of getting in rather than guaranteeing your place.



    By comparison London GFA times are quite generous - especially if you are a woman.
  • as more GFA places have been taken up this year they have reduced the number of places they give to running clubs as the assumption most GFA runners are affiliated to a club

  • VDOT52VDOT52 ✭✭✭
    Isn't there a marathon in Japan with a 3 hour cut off? And if you are it on pace at each 20k you get cut?



    I agree with Naysn. London is very fair to uk runners. Especially women. I guess that is because fewer ladies run.
  • Very unimpressed reading about the reduction in club places. My club has worked really hard to double it's membership over the past year from 50 to 100 and whilst the main reason is that we obviously want as many members as possible getting active and representing the club, thinking that getting to 100 would mean an extra VLM place was a big incentive.

    It seems some of the regular club runners (i.e. not super speedy ones) are being even further penalised by VLM.

  • Slightly off-topic, but isn't it a bit odd how charity running has come to dominate amateur running?

    If a cause is good enough to donate to, why will people only donate to it if I run 26 miles dressed as a badger? Why not donate anyway? Seems irrational to me.

    You wouldn't get the manager of your Sunday football side saying you are in the team if you raise £100 for the Battersea Dogs Home.

  • Rob Badger wrote (see)

    You wouldn't get the manager of your Sunday football side saying you are in the team if you raise £100 for the Battersea Dogs Home.

    Yet.

  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭
    Vdot do you mean Fukuoka?

    2:27 for group a and 2:40 for group b according to Wikipedia
  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭
    Boston has qualifying times but they are just the bar to let you bypass some but not all of the queue. I'd be amazed if London doesn't go the same way at some point.
  • VDOT52VDOT52 ✭✭✭
    Nayan. image that might be it, I thought it was 3 hours for the finishers and I meant to type that the cut offs are every 10k but I might be wrong about that too. Either way that is a tough race compared to people 'running' London in 6 hours.
  • I had a rant about it all in 2013 when after 4 years I was still rejected, then found out from somewhere thats is not even a random entry, but is selected to keep an even spread of finishers, as well as keeping a spread of TV friendly runners.

    I was told at the time that you could always do a different marathon, and one nob even suggested that I could save myself the entry and just run down the road for 26.2 miles, but many people especially experienced runners seem to forget the fact that the London Marathon is for many people the only Marathon - its the only marathon we all see on the TV year after year, the only Marathon that you can watch people running over Tower Bridge and think - I could do that.

    The end result was in 2013 I 'purchased' a place for £1800, ok they called it fundraising, but I found the fundraising harder than the actual training. I plodded my way around, finished, and can now say I ran the London Marathon.

    2 years later, I tried, and failed to get a place via the ballot again, but I'm now not that bothered, I've done it once, now I have other challenges, with an Ultra booked in September 2016.

     

    Wayne

     

     

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Which ultra are you doing?

    Marathons are great training for them.
  • I just found out a non-running acquaintance of mine has got a place on his first attempt. He's going to start training now. Honestly, he needs to lose some weight and get fit so good for him, but it is a little galling for all the seasoned runners who have been trying year after year.

    I'm doing Manchester instead, incidentally, which is fine as I have friends up there. But I'd like to do my home marathon at least once. As an only child of deceased parents working in a small school and with a small circle of friends, the fundraising option would likely mean I'd have to pay most of it myself. Which I can't do on my meagre salary.

  • Join a club, Cal!

  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭
    I think the national lottery is a joke. I've been paying my mortgage for years and it would be really great to win enough money to kill it off.



    Yet I keep hearing about people with no money who just buy a ticket and win. Bit galling for seasoned debt worriers.



    Obviously fixed.
  • Nayan, just work harder and get a better job.
  • They should rename it to The London Carnival Procession.
  • VDOT52VDOT52 ✭✭✭
    GFFA people seem to have the best chance fGood for faff all).
  • It's just not very transparent.



    Their stated aim is to get 50/50 men/women. This means they have to skew the lottery in some way as most marathons are around 75/25 split.



    It's obviously weighted against MAM running 4hour marathons because every other marathon is stacked full of them. So if you're an MAM don't put 4hours on the application form.



    But really it's just a fun run for anyone running slower than 2:10 and I suspect even the elites are selected rather than just allowed to run under GFA.



    Possibly all this moaning would go away if they just were a bit more transparent. Maybe have sub ballots for each demographic.
  • I think having an aim to get 50:50 participation doesn't necessarily mean they rig the ballot (or all the women would get in), it's more about increasing participation by women by encouraging them to do long-distance running. And the GFA times are a bit easier. It's still something like 70:30 though.

    Anyway, I still think it's an excellent race, not just a carnival procession, and that's why loads of people still want to get in (and complain about it when they don't).

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