A world-record 59,000 people are set to take part in Sunday’s London Marathon, as the race prepares for what organisers expect will be a near-£100m fundraising haul for charity. Runners will use 93,024 Lucozade gels on the 26.2-mile route from Greenwich to the Mall.
The scale of the field reflects how far the marathon has outgrown its origins. 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.
Sophie Raworth said she will be running her 13th London Marathon, and her view of the sport’s shift came from a Saturday morning run near the River Thames. She said the first run she went on with a group there drew 220 people, with an average age of 29 and most of them women. “It was 7.45am on a Sunday morning. I was thinking to myself: when I was that age I was still asleep. It’s amazing,” she said.
The growth has been feeding a broader running boom that organizers and runners alike describe as being driven by gen Z, women and social media. Jenny Mannion, who founded the female-running group Runners and Stunners in 2023, said the shift is about more than fitness. “I used to be such a party girl pre-lockdown,” she said. “Instead of finding human connection by going to the pub they are choosing to run.” Mannion said the movement has spread quickly because “all this has also exploded massively because of social media,” adding that “it’s also so empowering to run in a group of 200 women on a Saturday morning.”
Lillie Bleasdale, who runs the online female coaching company Passa, said the appeal is rooted in comfort as much as competition. “Women are actively seeking out spaces where they feel comfortable and safe – when that environment is provided, they don’t just participate, they stay and bring others with them,” she said. “Word of mouth has been a huge driver of our growth.”
The next test for the marathon’s organizers is capacity. They plan to split the race over two days in 2027 so that 100,000 people can take part, a sign that the london marathon results are now measured as much in demand as in finish times.