Over 400,000 people want to run the 2019 London Marathon, the most ever for any race!

More than 400,000 runners have entered the ballot for next year’s London Marathon, breaking the event’s own world record for registrations. A total of 414,168 runners from the UK and overseas have applied to take part in the race around the capital.  Last year’s total of 386,050 applicants first established London as the world’s most popular marathon, with this year’s total 7.5 per cent higher.   Of the applicants for the 2019 event, 347,876 are from the UK and 66,292 are from overseas.  More than 50 per cent of those who entered the ballot have never run a marathon before, while 44 per cent of the UK applicants are women.  Hugh Brasher, Event Director for London Marathon Events, said the world record reflects the “extraordinary inspiration” of this year’s event. He said: “One of our goals is to inspire people to take up sport and it's fantastic that more than 190,000 people from the UK have been inspired to apply to run a marathon for the first time in 2019.

posted Thursday May 10th