Compiled and fact-checked by Tommo, Verus founder · Last verified August 2026 · Spot an error?
Running · Marathons
London Marathon 2027
- Race day
- Saturday, 24 April 2027
- Location
- London, UK
- Distance
- 26.2 mi / 42.2 km
London Marathon: 24 April 2027. The historic two-day Double, ballot, entry, course, charity places, a pace calculator.
London Marathon Race Timeline
226 days to go
More than 84 days out — a good window to build a consistent base before marathon-specific training ramps up.
London Marathon 2027: quick answers
When is London Marathon 2027?
London Marathon 2027 takes place on Saturday, 24 April 2027.
What time does London Marathon start?
The official 2027 start time hasn't been published yet. Historically around 09:00-10:00, confirmed closer to race day.
Where does London Marathon start and finish?
London Marathon starts at Greenwich Park / Blackheath (three start areas, merging around mile 3) and finishes at The Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace.
How many miles is London Marathon?
London Marathon is 26.2 miles (42.2km).
How much elevation gain does London Marathon have?
London Marathon has approximately 419ft of total elevation gain. Yes — London is one of the flattest, fastest marathon courses in the world, which is exactly why it's an Abbott World Marathon Major and a common choice for record attempts. Independent course analyses put total elevation change at around 419ft (127m), net downhill overall — there's no official figure published on this by the organizer. The only real inclines are the short rise over Tower Bridge around the halfway point and a brief rise near Blackfriars around miles 23-24; neither is significant enough to change your pacing plan.
How much does London Marathon cost to enter?
2027 is the first-ever two-day 'TCS London Marathon Double' — Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April 2027, roughly 100,000 runners combined across both days on the same Greenwich-to-Mall route. You can only run one day in person (the other can be completed virtually via London Marathon MyWay). Standard ballot entry is £79.99 if selected, or £49.99 via the 'Double Your Chances' option (donate your entry fee upfront for a second ballot shot). International entry is £275, including a carbon offset fee. Prices checked Aug 2026 — always confirm current pricing on the official site.
How can I track a runner at London Marathon?
An official app powered by TCS is available roughly 10 days before event day, with live tracking for friends and family to follow runners on the course.
Key Race Metrics & Overview
- Date
- Saturday, 24 April 2027
- Distance
- 26.2 miles / 42.2km
- Location
- London, UK
- Start Point
- Greenwich Park / Blackheath (three start areas, merging around mile 3)
- Finish Point
- The Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace
- Elevation gain
- 419 ft (128m)
- Surface
- Closed public roads, tarmac throughout
- Cut-off time
- Eight hours from when the last starter crosses the start line. The main finish on The Mall closes around 5:30pm; runners still on course after that finish at a secondary point nearby, supported by a team of Tailwalkers.
- Age requirement
- Participants must be 18 or over on event day.
- Official pacers
- 2:45, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30
- Tracking app
- An official app powered by TCS is available roughly 10 days before event day, with live tracking for friends and family to follow runners on the course.
Not published by the organiser at the time of writing: start time. Verus records these as unconfirmed rather than estimating them — check the official race website closer to race day.
Direct Entry Summary
2027 is the first-ever two-day 'TCS London Marathon Double' — Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April 2027, roughly 100,000 runners combined across both days on the same Greenwich-to-Mall route. You can only run one day in person (the other can be completed virtually via London Marathon MyWay). Standard ballot entry is £79.99 if selected, or £49.99 via the 'Double Your Chances' option (donate your entry fee upfront for a second ballot shot). International entry is £275, including a carbon offset fee. Prices checked Aug 2026 — always confirm current pricing on the official site.
Ballot Policy
Entry is via a free public ballot — for 2027 it opened in April 2026 and closed 1 May 2026, with results announced in early July. Demand is extreme: 1.33 million people entered the ballot for the 2026 race. Unsuccessful applicants get a free premium hydration vest as a consolation. If you don't get a ballot place, charity places are the main alternative route in.
London Marathon Race Day Weather
A real forecast appears here once one exists for race day — usually about a week to ten days out. Nothing is shown until then, because a made-up forecast is worse than none.
London Marathon Route Map & Elevation Profile
Starting at Greenwich Park / Blackheath (three start areas, merging around mile 3) and finishing at The Mall, in front of Buckingham Palace. 419 ft of total elevation gain across 26.2 miles.
Is London Marathon flat?
Yes — London is one of the flattest, fastest marathon courses in the world, which is exactly why it's an Abbott World Marathon Major and a common choice for record attempts. Independent course analyses put total elevation change at around 419ft (127m), net downhill overall — there's no official figure published on this by the organizer. The only real inclines are the short rise over Tower Bridge around the halfway point and a brief rise near Blackfriars around miles 23-24; neither is significant enough to change your pacing plan.
London Marathon Course Profile
419 ft total elevation gain.
Tap a point on the course for details.
Greenwich Park / Blackheath (three start areas, merging around mile 3)
Start line.
Cutty Sark
Runners loop past the historic ship to a wall of crowd noise — one of the loudest early points on the course.
Tower Bridge (halfway)
One of the most famous scenes in marathon running, with a short rise onto the bridge itself.
Canary Wharf
Docklands skyscrapers mark the final 10K — a noticeable shift in scenery from the earlier miles.
Blackfriars
A brief rise here is the last real incline before a flat run-in to The Mall.
Where London Marathon starts and finishes
These are the start and finish points, not the route. Verus doesn't hold course files for this race, and drawing a line between two pins would be a guess you might end up training on. The official course map is the one to use: view it on the organiser's site .
Full London Marathon Route Breakdown
A fast, largely flat route from Greenwich to Westminster. It starts across three separate start areas in Greenwich Park and Blackheath (Blue, Green and Red), which merge into one course around mile 3. The route heads through Charlton, Greenwich and Deptford, looping past the Cutty Sark around miles 6-7 to a wall of crowd noise, then through Rotherhithe and Bermondsey to Tower Bridge at the halfway point — one of the most famous scenes in marathon running. From there it heads out through Docklands and Canary Wharf (miles 17-21), before turning back along Victoria Embankment, past Parliament Square and Birdcage Walk, finishing on The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.
London Marathon Pace Calculator & Splits
London Marathon Pace Calculator
Enter a target finish time to see your pace and projected splits.
Average pace / mile
9:10
Average pace / km
5:42
London Marathon Pace Chart
Official pacers cover 2:45, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30. Split markers calculated for standard checkpoints.
| Target | Pace /mi | Pace /km | 5K | 10K | Half Marathon | 30K | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | 6:52 | 4:16 | 21:21 | 42:41 | 1:30:04 | 2:08:04 | 3:00:00 |
| 3:15 | 7:27 | 4:37 | 23:07 | 46:15 | 1:37:34 | 2:18:44 | 3:15:00 |
| 3:30 | 8:01 | 4:59 | 24:54 | 49:48 | 1:45:05 | 2:29:25 | 3:30:00 |
| 3:45 | 8:35 | 5:20 | 26:41 | 53:22 | 1:52:35 | 2:40:05 | 3:45:00 |
| 4:00 | 9:10 | 5:42 | 28:28 | 56:55 | 2:00:05 | 2:50:46 | 4:00:00 |
| 4:15 | 9:44 | 6:03 | 30:14 | 1:00:29 | 2:07:35 | 3:01:26 | 4:15:00 |
| 4:30 | 10:18 | 6:24 | 32:01 | 1:04:02 | 2:15:06 | 3:12:06 | 4:30:00 |
| 4:45 | 10:53 | 6:46 | 33:48 | 1:07:36 | 2:22:36 | 3:22:47 | 4:45:00 |
| 5:00 | 11:27 | 7:07 | 35:34 | 1:11:09 | 2:30:06 | 3:33:27 | 5:00:00 |
| 5:30 | 12:36 | 7:50 | 39:08 | 1:18:16 | 2:45:07 | 3:54:48 | 5:30:00 |
| 6:00 | 13:44 | 8:32 | 42:41 | 1:25:23 | 3:00:08 | 4:16:08 | 6:00:00 |
| 6:30 | 14:53 | 9:15 | 46:15 | 1:32:30 | 3:15:08 | 4:37:29 | 6:30:00 |
| 7:00 | 16:02 | 9:58 | 49:48 | 1:39:37 | 3:30:09 | 4:58:50 | 7:00:00 |
London Marathon Finish Time Estimator
Enter a recent 5K, 10K or Half Marathon time to estimate your London Marathon finish time.
Your 5K time
Estimated London Marathon finish
3:59:36
An estimate only, based on Pete Riegel's race-time prediction formula. Real marathon performance depends on endurance, training specificity, pacing and race-day conditions — not just your speed over a shorter distance.
Training for a different distance? Try the full pace calculator, race time predictor or pace chart.
Got your target time? Save it to your profile.
Tag London Marathon, set your goal pace, and let Verus track your countdown, training and fundraising in one place.
Start Your Verus JourneyLondon Marathon Race Day Checklist
Tap items to mark off your race-day readiness.
- Race number attached, and any timing chip fitted per your race pack instructions
- Confirmation of which start area (Blue, Green or Red) and which of the two event days you're running
- Weather-appropriate kit, plus something warm and disposable to discard before the start
- Your own gels/fuel if you have specific fuelling needs beyond what's on the course
- The official TCS London Marathon app downloaded before race day, for live tracking and updates
- A plan for reaching Greenwich/Blackheath by train or tube — this is central London on race day, so driving isn't realistic
- A meeting point agreed with family/friends well away from The Mall finish area, which gets extremely busy
Training Strategy for London Marathon
16-20 weeks is the target window for first-time marathoners; 12-16 weeks is solid if you're already maintaining a baseline mileage. Arrive with your longest run behind you in training, not on race day itself.
This is a largely flat course, so most of your long runs can mirror that — flat and steady, building time on feet rather than hill strength.
Reduce overall mileage across the final 2-3 weeks while preserving short race-pace bursts. Arrive at Greenwich Park / Blackheath (three start areas, merging around mile 3) fresh, energized, and primed — not fit, fresh.
Lock in your target pace using the interactive splits calculator below, or stay attached to one of the official pacing flags (2:45, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45).
Test your race-day fuel and hydration plan on your long training runs, not for the first time on race day — check the Race Day Checklist below for what's actually on this course.
Marathon Nutrition & Fueling Plan
A modest increase in carbohydrate intake over the 2-3 days before the race — not one huge pasta dinner the night before — is the standard approach to topping up glycogen stores for a marathon.
Have a carbohydrate-focused breakfast 2-3 hours before the gun goes, and don't experiment — eat what you've already trained with. With three separate start areas and an early wave system, plan your morning around your specific start time rather than a generic race-morning routine.
Fuel with whatever you've trained with — carry your own gels if you have specific brand or timing needs, since exact on-course drink station contents for 2027 weren't published at the time of writing.
Getting some carbohydrate and protein into you within an hour of finishing helps recovery start properly — central London around The Mall and St James's has no shortage of options for a proper post-race meal once you've found your way out of the finish area.
London Marathon Charity Places 2027
London is the world's largest annual one-day fundraising event, and charity places are central to that — hundreds of UK charities are allocated places through their own ballot with London Marathon Events. There's no single universal minimum: each charity sets its own registration fee and fundraising target. Ballot-place runners (not charity places) have no mandatory fundraising minimum at all — you can raise as much or as little as you like.
| Charity Partner | Entry Fee | Minimum Target |
|---|---|---|
| Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity | £120 | £2,500 |
Lead with your personal story — explain why the charity matters to you. Personal connection generates 3x more support than a generic link broadcast.
Share key training milestones on Instagram (first 10-miler, peak week, race week) with your fundraising link in bio. Publicly thanking donors prompts secondary gifts!
Running London Marathon for charity?
Link your JustGiving page to Verus and show up right here alongside other London Marathon fundraisers — goal, progress and story, all in one place.
Add Your Fundraiser to VerusWhere to Stay for London Marathon
Greenwich / south-east London
Closest to the start areas — useful if you'd rather walk or take a short local journey on race morning instead of a longer tube ride across the closures.
Further from the finish and the main race-day atmosphere in central London; fewer hotel options than the centre.
Central London / Westminster
The most hotel choice by far, and right by the finish on The Mall — ideal for family and friends watching the finish, and for a short journey back after 26.2 miles.
Can be very busy on race weekend, and road closures affect getting around centrally on the day itself.
Canary Wharf / Docklands
On the course around miles 17-21, with good DLR connections — a solid base if you want to catch your runner mid-race as well as combine it with a central London stay.
Not walking distance to either the start or the finish, so you're relying on the DLR/Underground around closures either way.
Travel & Logistics
The start areas around Greenwich and Blackheath are served directly by National Rail and DLR (Greenwich, Maze Hill, Blackheath stations among others). There is no Park & Ride — this is central London on race day, so public transport is the only realistic option.
Not applicable — driving to the start or finish isn't practical given road closures across central and south-east London. Use the Underground, DLR or National Rail instead.
Extensive road closures are in place across Greenwich, south-east and central London for the full event, confirmed in detail by the organizer and Transport for London closer to race day.
Spectator & Cheer Guide
The Cutty Sark (miles 6-7) and Tower Bridge (the halfway point) are famously the loudest, most crowded spectator points on the entire course — arrive early if you want a good spot at either.
London's Underground and DLR network make it realistic to see your runner at two or three different points along the route (e.g. Cutty Sark, then Tower Bridge, then near the finish) if you plan your tube journeys around road closures in advance.
An official app powered by TCS is available roughly 10 days before event day, with live tracking for friends and family to follow runners on the course.
London Marathon Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know for race weekend.
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Race details independently compiled and fact-checked by Tommo against the official London Marathon site , last verified August 2026. Always confirm official timings and policies directly prior to race day.