The Club Ballot for the 2027 will take place at the 2026 AGM on 3rd December. We await news of how many club places we will receive from London Marathon (LM) – if the same as last year, it will be one club place.
The ballot is now open. Applications should be sent to secretary@perthroadrunners.co.uk, observing the rules set out below and to arrive by 23:59 on Monday 16th November.
Each year, Perth Road Runners normally receives one or two places from the LM organisers to distribute to club members as we see fit. As with most ACs and running clubs, we choose to distribute that/those place(s) by ballot to club members who have been unsuccessful in the main LM ballot earlier in the year.
The details of the system of places allocated to clubs by the LM organisers in 2026 appear here. For the 2026 London Marathon, PRR were allocated one place, as we had around 170 adult members at the (crucial) time of 2025 registration with UK Athletics; we were just below the threshold (190 adult members) for a second slot.
We will draw two – or possibly even three – names from the hat/trophy at the AGM, even though there are fewer places available, because
- we may not know how many places we will be awarded (for all that we should have been told by then, these things sometime take more time than the organisers state);
- Good For Age (GFA) entrants will not know the outcome of their GFA applications by the AGM/club ballot. See below for more on this point.
- It may be that any winner of a club ballot place – faced with the reality of accepting a place – has a rethink, often around injury or commitments before accepting/paying for the place. This has happened before (hence this precaution).
The extra drawn places thus create a balloted “waiting list” to deal with the above possibilities. If, however, and as is likely, a wait-listed entrant does not ultimately receive a firm LM place from the club ballot, their opportunities in the following year’s ballot (assuming they are eligible on all other criteria) are unaffected.
NB: The club place(s) still come(s) at a price to the lucky winner(s), being £79.99 for the 2026 race (same price as for public ballot places).
We are more strict than usual on rules and guidelines for this ballot to ensure fairness to all club members: the club LM places are invariably in great demand. The club rules for the LM Ballot (as appear in the main Club Rules) are shown again below, with the key points – ones that typically/often provide a stumbling block to wannabe entrants – in bold type.
Applications should be sent to secretary@perthroadrunners.co.uk, observing the opening date and closing deadline stated above.
In addition to the rules below:
- No late entries – under any circumstances – will be accepted. There are quite some weeks and days in which to submit an application, after all;
- Good for Age applicants – if ultimately awarded a GFA place – will be expected to accept their GFA place and release any club ballot place they may have won a week or two earlier. The principle of the club ballot is to maximise the number of PRRs at the LM, and hence this is a very strong request; and
- We ask that all entrants to the club ballot that are hoping/have applied for a GFA place notify the ballot organiser (Liz) to that effect when applying to the club ballot.
The Club Rules on the LM Ballot….
a. Since the London Marathon may only be run by adults under SA/UK and race regs, the club ballot is only open to those members who will be aged 18 or above on race day.
b. The “guaranteed club entry/ies” for the London Marathon shall be put to a club ballot amongst qualifying club members.
c. Any club member interested in running the London Marathon must submit their name to the Club Secretary by the nominated date announced by the Committee.
d. Any club member interested in being entered in to the London Marathon club ballot, must have been a fully paid-up member of the club since 1st March of that year and have paid for the following year’s membership prior to the day of the AGM in the year the ballot is carried out.
e. Any club member interested in being entered into the London Marathon club ballot, must have entered and been rejected from that year’s official London Marathon ballot. They must also provide evidence of that rejection (ie their rejection letter/email from London Marathon).
f. If a club member meets the qualifying criteria to be entered in to the London Marathon club ballot and was unsuccessful in the previous year’s London Marathon club ballot, they will receive double the entries they received in the previous year. That is:
a. 1 qualifying year = Their name will be entered once into the London Marathon club ballot
b. 2 qualifying years = Their name will be entered twice into the London Marathon club ballot
c. 3 qualifying years = Their name will be entered four times into the London Marathon club ballot
g. The club members entries will continue to double each year until they either gain a London Marathon club ballot place, or they fail to meet the qualifying criteria.
h. If a member gains a London Marathon club ballot place, they will not be eligible to enter the following year’s London Marathon club ballot.
i. If insufficient names are put forward for the London Marathon club ballot, then the ballot will be opened to all club members.
Good luck!!