{"id":494934,"date":"2026-03-25T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/494934\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:30:08","slug":"revealed-secret-plans-for-two-day-london-marathon-with-100000-runners-london-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/494934\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealed: secret plans for two-day London Marathon with 100,000 runners | London Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The London Marathon<\/a> is in advanced talks about staging a two-day event in 2027, allowing tens of thousands more runners to take part in the iconic race and to raise tens of \u00admillions more\u00a0for charity.<\/p>\n

While the Double London<\/a> Marathon, as it is being called internally, has not been granted formal approval it is believed to have the backing of the mayor\u2019s office for it to be staged on Saturday and Sunday 24-25 April next year.<\/p>\n

The one-off event would allow a world-record 100,000 amateur runners to take part over the weekend, with 50,000 running the course on each day. It is also expected that the elite men\u2019s and women\u2019s races would also be staged on separate days, in what would be a celebration of top-level and grassroots sport.<\/p>\n

Tigst Assefa crosses the line to win the women\u2019s race at the 2025 London Marathon. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Last year a record 56,540 finishers raised \u00a387.3m for charity \u2013 making London the world\u2019s largest annual one-day fundraising event. The ambition is that 2027 would deliver a major boost to capital\u2019s wellbeing and the economy \u2013 and also potentially raise more than \u00a3130m for charity.<\/p>\n

The Guardian can also reveal that a series of meetings have taken place with various stakeholders. Part of the proposal is that a two\u2011day \u00adLondon Marathon would be a unique opportunity to show unity and community across the country at a time of \u00adgrowing social and economic division.<\/p>\n

The plan will be welcomed by runners who have tried and failed to get into the world\u2019s biggest marathon due to its soaring popularity. More than 1.1\u00a0million people entered the public ballot to run in 2026 \u2013 a \u00adfigure that has risen from 410,000 just three years ago \u2013 and most were left disappointed.<\/p>\n

The London Marathon did not comment directly on the proposal when approached by the Guardian on Wednesday. \u00adHowever it did provide a quote from its chief executive, Hugh Brasher, which said: \u201cThe TCS London Marathon is the world\u2019s most \u00adpopular mara\u00adthon, and we are always \u00adexploring innovative ways to enable more people to take part and to deliver positive benefits for London.<\/p>\n

Runners race past the Palace of Westminster during the 2025 London Marathon. Photograph: Matthew Childs\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is carried out in close collaboration with our partners and stakeholders, whose support is essential in staging this incredible event in the heart of the capital each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently four weeks away from the 2026 TCS London Marathon on Sunday 26\u00a0April, and we are looking forward to amplifying one of the original aims of the London Marathon, which was \u2018to show happiness and sense of achievement in a \u00adsomewhat troubled world\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoignantly, those words resonate even more now than they did almost 45 years ago to the day, when the first London Marathon took place.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Mayor of London spokesperson told the Guardian: \u201cLondon is the sporting capital of the world and the Mayor looks forward to working with London Marathon and partners to consider if it might be possible to host an event that will run across two days next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London Marathon is in advanced talks about staging a two-day event in 2027, allowing tens of thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-494934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}