London | Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April 2027
Next year’s London Marathon will be unlike any before it. The 2027 Double TCS London Marathon will be a one-off, two-day event, and the dates of the elite races have just been decided in the most unexpected way.
Here are five things to know.
1. It’s a two-day marathon
For one weekend only, the London Marathon becomes a two-day event, allowing a record 100,000 people to run the famous course from Greenwich to Westminster. That makes it the largest fundraising moment in UK sporting history, with more than £150 million expected to be raised for charity. Since the first London Marathon in 1981, the event has raised £1.4 billion for good causes.
2. The race days were decided by Rock, Paper, Scissors
Which elite field would race on which day was settled by a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors between two reigning London champions and world record holders: Sabastian Sawe, who broke the two-hour barrier in London, and Catherine Debrunner, a four-time London winner who holds the women’s wheelchair marathon record. It even set a new Guinness World Records title as the first elite marathon start decided this way. Debrunner won, so the women race on the Sunday. Watch the moment below:
3. Saturday: the men’s races
The weekend opens on Saturday 24 April with the elite men’s wheelchair race and the elite men’s race, followed by the men’s Championship and Good for Age runners. It means spectators can see the world’s fastest men on one day and the world’s fastest women on the next, with each race getting its own spotlight.
4. Sunday: a celebration of women’s running
On Sunday 25 April, the elite women’s wheelchair race and elite women’s race lead the way. For the first time in London, the women’s Championship runners will line up directly behind the elite women’s field, creating what organisers call a true celebration of women’s marathon running. The mass races on both days will be mixed fields of male, female and non-binary participants.
5. Entries open tomorrow
If you’re a fast runner, entries for the Championship and Good for Age categories open on Thursday 1 October. The 2027 Official Charity of the Year is the National Autistic Society. Even if you’re not running, it will be two brilliant days to cheer from the roadside, with the whole city turning out to support.
More info
2027 Double TCS London Marathon
Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April 2027
Course: Greenwich to Westminster
Championship and Good for Age entries open Thursday 1 October 2026