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London 2016
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Thank you for responding, LWJ.
I entered 15 minutes ago and got my confirmation e-mail straight away.
I don't know what number they started at today, but my reference number was over 295K
My understanding, could be wrong, is the ref numbers usually start at 100000 so that would suggest 195000 entrants so far. They were at 121k at 5AM this morning.
I think you are right NorwichRunner about the number starting at 100,000.
Last year I entered just after midnight and was 102,500.
What a crazy set up this year - I can understand keeping the ballot open for 24 hours to allow shift workers etc to enter but this way every last person who fancies a go will take it up to some mad figure by Friday.
Colleague just registered and got a reference number around 345000, so that's about 100,000 entries more than the ballot last year so far.
Postmen will be busy in October!
does anyone know the reason of why we have to wait until october to find out whether we are in or not? seems a bit silly to me...
There are people who defered this year that will have to confirm and the GFA qualification period is usually open until July and then you have a month to get your paperwork in. This then gives them 4 weeks at most to do the ballot entries.
I'm not sure how the club places work but that will also have to be factored in.
there's an echo in here, in here, in here.....
People will keep asking the same questions.
So if I get into London won't do Brighton. Fully expecting to get in this time. Just because got Brighton to full bk on. Ha. O and just because I sore this in the comments earlier about entry numbers in the 221 range. Crazy!.
Back in the day you used to be guaranteed entry after 4 failed attempts, I think they then reduced it to 3. Maybe it was 5 and 4, anyway I don't know why they stopped this. This was back when you used to do it on a piece of paper!
With 7 rejections to my name I have given up on the ballot and ran the GFA yesterday instead
. It feels all the sweeter following the rejections and the fact that it is so difficult to get in these days.
I have always thought it should be a first come first serve. I understand the whole. Leaving it open for workers. Hell I'm one of them. But I'd rather that then ballot.
Also randomly know this is not the right forum but don't seem to be one. Has anyone here done the Vegas marathon?. Doing it in November while on holiday there. Any info on what it's like would be great.
The 5 rejections thing was withdrawn because so many people were qualifying for it year after year. This in itself was taking away places from the ballot. There are simply too many runners who want to do this race, no entry system will satisfy demand like this. It's a bit like complaining about being stuck in a traffic jam when you are one of the cars in it!
First come first served doesn't tend to work properly when you have, say, 200,000 runners all poised at the keyboard on the day and hour of reckoning. My local half marathon tried this and the system crashed intermittently, some folks didn't know if they had completed their entry so entered again. As a result some runners had entered 3, 4 , 5 times so the organisers had a right old mess to sort out.
I quite like the system at Boston where they have tiered qualifying times depending on your age.
I was pondering an idea in the shower (oh matron) about restricting who can apply to the ballot to only people who have never run London before.. or perhaps not run it in the last 5 years. The end result would be a ballot field containing as many first timers as possible. Personally if someone said to me once you've run London you can't then get a ballot place for 5 years.. I'd be happy with that. I even think I'd be happy if they said 10 years. There would be no such restriction on the other types of entry.
That's true. I think if i get in to London i will only do it once maybe and then stick with Brighton Marathon. Just because its much simpler. But i have to do London once.
Was annoying was at work on the Sunday it was on and more then one person said to me. "Should you not be in London today?" and they had it on the TV. was not happy. Haha.
NorwichRunner.
That's not a bad idea maybe 3 years though. I think London sadly has just become to big simple as that. Like say i just want to do London once then if i wanted to i could retire happily from running.
why should London be restricted to people who have never run it though? Would that mean that if you took a charity place that you couldn't enter the ballot for 5 years?
It makes no sense and is just too hard to administer.
Pot luck seems as good a way as any - albeit that I don't like the odds worsening so dramatically.... I was wondering if VLM 2016 will see a staggered start like in Paris to ease congestion - and possibly allow a few more ballot places?
I'm not saying that I think that should happen, I'm saying I think it might. The numbers being accepted and completing the race have been creeping up gradually for some time now with 2015 seeing the highest numbers to date. And Branson has stated his wish to increase the money raised for charity - one way to carry on increasing numbers would be to stagger the starts.
Agree entirely that the stagger would have to be over at least an hour to have any impact.
I may be compleeetely wrong but when I was in the start pen I'm sure the announcer said that next year they are planning to have the millionth finisher. I can't find the stat on how many people have now finished it but I think it would mean more like 40,000 next year.
no they're on 970k finishers so will easily hit a million next year - it will be some unsuspecting 5h30 finisher!!
Ah ok, just bad maths on my part!