A world-record 59,000 people will line up for Sunday’s London Marathon, with organisers expecting the race to raise close to £100 million for charity. By the time runners reach the Mall, they will have swallowed 93,024 Lucozade gels and helped turn one of the world’s biggest road races into a national event that now stretches far beyond the elite field.
The scale of the demand is even bigger than the start list. More than 1.1 million people entered the ballot for this year’s race, 750,000 more than four years ago, and a third of those applicants were in the 18-29 category. Female entrants made up the biggest percentage of those under 30, a sign of how the race’s audience has shifted as younger runners pour into the sport.
One of the clearest signs of that change comes from Sophie Raworth, who is preparing for what will be her 13th London Marathon. She said that when she started running at 38, she did not bump into many other women on the roads. But when she began training in January, she said she was stunned by what she saw. She met a group by a bike shop near the River Thames, and on the first run 220 people turned up. The average age was 29 and most of them were women. It was 7.45am on a Sunday morning, and she said she was thinking that when she was that age, she was still asleep.
That surge has been fed by new running clubs built around ease, encouragement and a less intimidating pace. Jenny Mannion founded Runners and Stunners in 2023 and now holds regular events for slower-paced joggers in London, Bristol, Brighton and Manchester. She said she used to be such a party girl pre-lockdown, but now many people are choosing running over the pub for human connection. She also said the growth has exploded massively because of social media, and that it feels empowering to run in a group of 200 women on a Saturday morning. Lillie Bleasdale, who runs the online female coaching company Passa, said women are actively seeking out spaces where they feel comfortable and safe, and when that environment is provided they do not just participate but stay and bring others with them. She said word of mouth has been a huge driver of growth.
The tension for organisers is that the race’s appetite is now running ahead of its capacity. Plans are already in place to split the London Marathon over two days in 2027 so that 100,000 can take part, a move that underlines how quickly the event has outgrown its old shape. The marathon that once revolved around a single Sunday has become part of a broader running boom powered by gen Z, women and the inclusive crews that have turned an individual test into a social habit.