Revealed: Secret Plans For Two-day London Marathon With 100,000 Runners

The London Marathon is successful precocious talks astir staging a two-day arena successful 2027, allowing tens of thousands much runners to return portion successful nan iconic title and to raise tens of millions much for charity.

While nan Double London Marathon, arsenic it is being called internally, has not been granted general support it is believed to person nan backing of nan mayor’s agency for it to beryllium staged connected Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April adjacent year.

The one-off arena would let a world-record 100,000 amateur runners to return portion complete nan weekend, pinch 50,000 moving nan people connected each day. It is besides expected that nan elite men’s and women’s races would besides beryllium staged connected abstracted days, successful what would beryllium a ceremony of top-level and grassroots sport.

Tigst Assefa crosses nan statement to triumph nan women’s title astatine nan 2025 London Marathon. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Last twelvemonth a grounds 56,540 finishers raised £87.3m for kindness – making London nan world’s largest yearly one-day fundraising event. The ambition is that 2027 would present a awesome boost to capital’s wellbeing and nan system – and besides perchance raise much than £130m for charity.

The Guardian tin besides uncover that a bid of meetings person taken spot pinch various stakeholders. Part of nan connection is that a two-day London Marathon would beryllium a unsocial opportunity to show unity and organization crossed nan state astatine a clip of increasing societal and economical division.

The scheme will beryllium welcomed by runners who person tried and grounded to get into nan world’s biggest marathon owed to its soaring popularity. More than 1.1m group entered nan nationalist ballot to tally successful 2026 – a fig that has risen from 410,000 conscionable 3 years agone – and galore were near disappointed.

The London Marathon did not remark straight connected nan connection erstwhile approached by nan Guardian connected Wednesday. However it did supply a quote from its main executive, Hugh Brasher, which said: “The TCS London Marathon is nan world’s astir celebrated marathon, and we are ever exploring innovative ways to alteration much group to return portion and to present affirmative benefits for London.

Runners title past nan Palace of Westminster during nan 2025 London Marathon. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters

“This activity is carried retired successful adjacent collaboration pinch our partners and stakeholders, whose support is basal successful staging this unthinkable arena successful nan bosom of nan superior each year,” he added.

“We are presently 4 weeks distant from nan 2026 TCS London Marathon connected Sunday 26 April, and we are looking guardant to amplifying 1 of nan original intends of nan London Marathon, which was ‘to show happiness and consciousness of accomplishment successful a somewhat troubled world’.

“Poignantly, those words resonate moreover much now than they did almost 45 years agone to nan day, erstwhile nan first London Marathon took place.”