2025 TCS London Marathon ballot entries soar to more than 840K
Melanie May | 29 April 2024 | News
A record-breaking 840,318 people from the UK and across the globe have applied in the public ballot for an entry to next year’s TCS London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday 27 April 2025.
The total is way above the previous world record total of 578,374, which was set last year in the ballot for the 2024 TCS London Marathon.
The total number of UK applications for 2025 was 672,631 of which 338,549 were applications from men (50.33% of the total), 329,793 from women (49.03% of the total) and 4,288 (0.64% of the total) from non-binary applications.
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There were a further 167,687 applications from non-UK residents in the international ballot.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director for the TCS London Marathon, said:
Marathon Day is always an extraordinary and inspirational day when we celebrate the very best of humanity. The unique camaraderie of the event and the amazing support from the huge crowds show London at its best and this year, in a world beset by many challenges, it felt like those magical days of London 2012 when joy and love were everywhere.
“The 2024 TCS London Marathon on 21 April was the biggest in our history with more than 53,700 finishers and has already raised a world record-breaking £67 million for charities. More than 12,900 children took part in the mass TCS Mini London Marathon the day before and hundreds of thousands of children across the UK are now doing their Mini Marathon in their schools.
“We work to inspire activity in people of all ages and abilities and these astonishing record-breaking numbers show how the TCS London Marathon does that and how many people want to be part of it.”
Since the first London Marathon in 1981, the event has raised more than £1.2 billion for charity. 2025’s official charity of the year is Pancreatic Cancer UK. Each year, London Marathon Events also gifts its surplus to the London Marathon Foundation (the operating name of The London Marathon Charitable Trust, and since 1981, the London Marathon Foundation has awarded £105 million to more than 1,690 projects that inspire activity in London and across the UK.
How charities can get involved
Charities interested in the opportunities offered by the TCS London Marathon can register their interest here. There are a number of ways for charities to get involved with the TCS London Marathon, with initiatives on offer including the Charity Bond scheme, the Charity Advertising Partnership Programme and the Charity Ballot. The bond scheme sees charities given a set number of places which they can then allocate to runners, and the ballot offers an opportunity for UK-registered charities to secure places. A review of the Golden Bond, Silver Bond, Charity Ballot and one-year Charity Bond schemes means that there will be some changes to how the Bond scheme works from 2026, which can be read about here.
The Charity Ballot did not take place for the 2024 TCS London Marathon due to the final redistribution of charity places from the cancelled mass 2020 London Marathon and the number of rolled-over charity places from the last three years. Details on the Charity Ballot going forward have not yet been announced.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.