Could the London Marathon feature 100,000 runners in two-day festival in 2027?

Last year the London Marathon broke the world record for the highest number of finishers as 56,540 people crossed the line in front of Buckingham Palace after 26.2 miles.

But that mark didn’t last long as in November 2025, over 59,000 runners made it to Central Park at the end of the New York Marathon.

And now it seems there’s a strong chance that around 100,000 amateur runners will be able to take part in London in 2027, with talks for a two-day festival said to be in progress between the various stakeholders.

Separate days for elite races?

British newspaper the Guardian – through their Chief Sports Writer Sean Ingle – broke the news with an exclusive story earlier today [Wednesday 25 March].

It read: “While the Double London Marathon, as it is being called internally, has not been granted formal approval it is believed to have the backing of the mayor’s office for it to be staged on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April next year.

“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’s and women’s races would also be staged on separate days, in what would be a celebration of top-level and grassroots sport.”

News set to be widely welcomed

The 2025 edition saw more than £87million raised for charity, making it the single biggest one-day annual fundraiser.

And the potential news will also be welcomed by the hundreds of thousands of runners who have been unable to get a place in the race in recent years.

For the first time ever over a million applications were received for this year’s race, which takes place on Sunday 26 April. London makes around 20,000 spots available through the ballot so that means just around a 2% chance of success.

But that actually compares well to New York where only around 2,500 places are up for grabs via the public ‘drawing’ and nearly a quarter of a million people applied for the 2026 race.

The Guardian report added that London Marathon Events provided a quote from its chief executive, Hugh Brasher, which said: “The TCS London Marathon is the world’s most popular marathon, and we are always exploring innovative ways to enable more people to take part and to deliver positive benefits for London.”