Will the London Marathon be a two-day event in 2027?

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1:46Last year, the London Marathon Ballot Box achieved a personal best, a new record for the most applicants in the history of the race, with over 1 million hopefuls signing up. While the uptake of sport is cause for celebration, there are only 50 ,000 places. So, should race day become race weekend? Hi, and welcome back to the Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Komornik. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, should the London Marathon be a two-day event?

2:35There are rumblings that the London Marathon may become a full weekend event in 2027. When we reached out for comment, spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said that 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 So, are the odds in our favour when the ballot opens in a few weeks' time? In today's episode, I'm thrilled to be joined by Rick Pearson, the co-host of the Run As Well podcast and senior editor of Run As Well UK, which is a hub for training plans, articles comparing the best gear, as well as motivational tips.

3:17Without further ado, here's my chat with Rick. Hi, Rick. Thanks so much for joining me on the Standard Podcast today. It's a pleasure to be on. Thank you for asking me. Rick, the latest news this morning, the London Marathon is considering running a two-day event for 2027. This is historic news. So they're talking about doubling the number of runners and really changing the shape of the event that has been running for such a long time and that we know so well. Rick, what was your first reaction when you heard the news? Yeah, I think I'm broadly in favour of it. I remember talking with Ben, who I do the Royal National podcast with, and about three or four years ago, I said, oh, look, they could do this over two days, you know, because it's got up to like 50 ,000 people.

4:03It feels very busy as a one-day event. And obviously the demand is increasingly going up. I mean, there was more than a million people applied to take part in London Marathon this year, which is just extraordinary. How much bigger could it get as a day event, sort of sensibly? I don't think it can get much bigger in terms of a kind of user experience. But obviously London Marathon is such a force for good. It going to two days, I think actually satisfies a lot of those limitations. So I think it's a fine thing. Yeah, I can't imagine that they can fit many more runners in on the day with the staff.

4:37And, you know, the streets are only so wide. And that's really the beauty of the run as well, that it would be sad for the course to be compromised. So, yeah, it is very, very exciting news. And also they're talking about having the elite races on different days. Yeah, and I think that's important, actually, because you could get into a world where you like, well, one of the days was seen as like, that's the proper day, you know, say it's Sunday, and that's where all the kind of elite racing happens, and maybe the faster running. And then Saturday could be seen as a sort of charity day, and potentially, it could maybe lose some of its sort of star appeal as a consequence.

5:13But I'd imagine the London Marathon, yeah, we'd want to spread it out so both days feel equally special. all. And as you mentioned, around a million people applied for the ballot for 2026. That is an unbelievable number. I mean, surely, you know, getting a ballot place is sort of like winning a lottery. Completely. I think it's now about a one in 100 chance you're going to get in the ballot. And every year we hear the kind of runner's lament of apply for London Marathon again, knew I wouldn't get in and I didn't get in. And that's going to be more and more true because running we're in a kind of running boom at the minute where more and more people want to do these kind of things which is fantastic um but when you've got one event like london that is the absolute standout british marathon um it means that the yeah the demand outstrips supply by such a long way that actually something like doing it over two days or maybe even doing i mean they don't think they're going to do this but you could but the demand would be there for like doing you know two a year they'd sell that out as well well i was in the very lucky cohort cohort the kind of post-COVID well actually sort of during COVID cohort in 2021 I had the opportunity to run for charity and the event was held in October traditionally it's held in April.

6:31I loved that October slot because it meant that I could train throughout the summer and I mean the numbers of people that apply it's pretty evenly split among the sexes but as a woman training at night in the winter there's the sacrifice of training and then there's also the safety um issue so do you think that it would make sense to branch out and have never mind just a weekend but to have a kind of spring event and a an autumn event it's a really good point i think as a male runner we often kind of underestimate some of the additional considerations that female runners like yourself have to take into account and obviously training in the winter when it's not getting light probably until say 7.30, 8 o 'clock and then it's getting dark again at half four means that you're either running on a treadmill, maybe you're running outside in a running group but you may be looking at running on your own and the kind of fears around that.

7:23So I do think training in the summer has lots of benefits. It's interesting actually because some of the world's biggest marathons, for instance, New York and Berlin, which are part of this kind of marathon majors set of which London is part as well, they do happen in the autumn. And a lot of people say actually, yeah, training was much better. I wasn't sort of training in a wet and windy January. And what you can get in a spring marathon, which we may get in London and we've seen before, is you can get a really hot day in April that you just haven't been used to because you've been training in like, you know, minus two or, you know, in wet and windy and cold weather.

7:57And then suddenly you get, you know, I think last year was about 20 or 22 degrees. A lot of runners struggled in that because it really just changed the kind of demands of the marathon. So I think that London probably won't do that anytime soon, but maybe there is a window for another marathon in Britain to emerge in the autumn to provide that. There are obviously marathons during that time period, but there's not a standout option, I wouldn't say. And there are so many popular runs now. I mean, everyone and their dog knows somebody running in the Hackney half. And then there's the London Landmarks, the Big Half, the Royal Parks Half Marathon, the Vitality 10K.

8:35I mean, endless number of events. and there was actually a 36 % increase in London Marathon applications for 2026. Rick, what do you think is the catalyst behind the explosion of running as a popular amateur sport? Yeah, it's a great question. We called it about over a year ago now. We said we were in a running boom and there have been kind of running booms of the past. The most famous one was in the 1970s, but we're definitely in one now. And we looked at about four or five reasons that we thought maybe were kind of behind this boom. and one is COVID, the COVID effect, like people have just started running during COVID and continued to run, I think, saw the benefits of running because it was obviously one of the few things you were still allowed to do.

9:16I think this boom, it also has kind of social media behind it as well, kind of there's lots of running influences out there and there's a kind of community online where you can post, you know, where you've been running on Strava and all that kind of stuff. So that offers a kind of community that wasn't there before. And running is cool now. now we've got the next issue of Runners World out in the first Facebook Harry Styles on front cover of Runners World so if you're in doubt that running is not cool it is like a lot of Gen Z people I think actually he's talking about the benefits of exercise in terms of mental health which I think again is much more part of the conversation now of running and he's talking to Haruki Murakami the kind of great Japanese author who's like he kind of credits as getting him into marathon running so yeah running's gone big time but for a variety of reasons but I think it's a fine thing because like anyone who I think sort of comes into running you quite quickly see so many of the benefits like not just physically um of which there are many but also mentally i think people it's a great stress reliever it can help to manage other more serious conditions like depression and anxiety and um it's a force for good i think i cannot wait to uh read that next issue because it was actually haruki murakami's book that inspired me to do the marathon i read his book amazing um yeah i believe it's called what i talk about when i talk about running.

10:31Exactly, yeah. I read that book and I thought, right, I have to give this a go. We'll take a quick break here. Coming up, Rick and I discuss ways to get into running, whether smiling can help your performance, and the effect the London Marathon has on the city. We'll be back here in just a moment.

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12:06Welcome back. Let's get back to my chat with Rick.

12:13now rick as much as runners love these events as a source of personal pride uh you know good thing for fitness they are actually becoming necessary for many charities to function in a tough economy they offer a lifeline via sponsored runners doing their own fundraising do you think more events should be kind of permitted on charitable grounds. That is a really good point. Not something I can consider before talking to you. I think one thing I know about London Marathon is that I believe it's the world's biggest single day fundraising event. So if you even take all the running out of it, purely from a fundraising perspective, it's raised more than a billion pounds.

12:57And I think as well as the fundraising aspect, which is really important, there are knock-on effects of running events that are really good. I think air pollution on the day of London Marathon drops along the road by 90%. You think of what a big deal air pollution is in London and lots of other big capital cities. That's almost reason enough, isn't it, to put it on? I'm surprised that the air pollution isn't worse from all of these runners panting their carbon dioxide.

13:31i want to hear a bit about your running journey how did you get into it so i ran a little bit of school i was in i got kind of roped into the cross-country team but not not through any ability i think i could reliably be sort of dependent on to bring a pe kit so that was enough that got me in um and then i didn't run much i played a bit of football and stuff and i had a slightly dodgy knee and this is kind of classic this is the kind of classic running illusion here and I thought oh running's not for me because I've got a dodgy knee and I didn't think I'd ever run a marathon or anything like that and then I read a very influential book called Born to Run which was out in the early 2000s and it talked about how actually human beings are designed to run and it's by a guy called Chris McDougall, American guy and he said look his argument is human beings aren't particularly fast compared to other animals but when it comes to endurance were actually really good.

14:23So I read this book and I thought, actually, maybe there's something in running. Maybe I should give it another go. And I think I was in my mid-twenties at the time and I was definitely going through some low-level anxiety issues, I think. And I found that running immediately was great for it as a kind of de-stressor. And I fell hard into running. I mean, I was probably a massive bore. I think a lot of people were like, oh, Rick's talking about running again yeah from there i've done everything from the london marathon about five times i've paced the marathon before so that's the people with the flags on that people sometimes follow around so that's a great privilege that is seriously impressive that was a lot of fun actually that was a quite a lot of pressure but a privilege to do it and um you know i've run 100 miles in one go i've once probably won't do that again um and i took part in a few Darth races like Race to Train, where you race a steam engine over 14 miles, and Man vs Horse, which is when you're running against horses in Wales.

15:23So I've thrown myself into it, but I love it. And to be honest with you, I love the way... Yeah, I think I just love the simple pleasure of running. I think it's like an expression of freedom and expression of joy, and it brings me all those things, and I want to run until I'm very old, and I never want to stop. you'll be like Haruki Murakami I hope so interviewing Harry Styles one of the things that I love about running is that there's a very low bar to entry really you just you need a body you need shoes and that's about it really I think that's it I think it is really an accessible and simple sport and people should always try and bear that in mind I think like with running you know you need a good pair of shoes for sure um but you don't need all lots of the other fancy kit which can come later on i think it's worth acknowledging that running is particularly accessible still for people of my demographic i.e sort of middle class white people because that's that's still kind of what we're recreational running is that's the main demographic and there's some amazing people trying to to broaden it out we want to be part of that but there's lots of running crews in london um i mean some of the famous ones are like um random crew was sort of a great pioneer for that but there's lots more now that are actually yeah they're just a great access point for people who maybe don't feel like they can't go to traditional running club and see lots of people who look like them and i think um that's that's a great part of this running boom now is actually it's not just yeah our kind of single demographic it's much more like representative of like the city that we live in which is a fine thing

17:06And Rick, now I have you here as a certifiable running expert, what tips do you have for people who are hearing the news and thinking, oh, 2027 could be my year? Well, I love that. I want people to think that as well, because running can seem intimidating, I think. And if people are thinking I could do a marathon, they're right. I mean, 26.2 miles is intimidating. Let's not pretend. No, it is. And you don't have to start there either. I think, you know, there's things like Park Run now that are happening, three weekly things every Saturday. So there are other access points. But the number one thing people should do, of course, is to come to a Runners World website, runnersworld.com forward slash UK, because we've got the Runners World Club, which is full of marathon plans for all abilities.

17:54So if you're going to be like a run walk and you might take seven hours, if you're going to run sub three hours like Harry Styles, there's a plan in there. but I think just some general advice would be to start with a run walk if you're completely new to running I think walking can seem like it's a dirty word in running like oh I walked I kind of failed and that's just not true any kind of movement is better than no movement and run walking can be a really good way in and it can also allow you to diminish the chances of getting injured which I think is a hazard for a lot of new runners a lot of things that runners avoid is strength training but you've got to do it if you want to remain injury-free.

18:31You've got to get lifting weights twice a week would be great. Mostly lower leg stuff. Classic kind of moves that most people might know, like squats, lunges, deadlifts. But that's really important for keeping yourself strong. Also, to eat enough. When you're running, your nutritional demands go up. And I think a lot of people neglect that. And we want people to be really healthy when they're running. So to take on good advice. Again, the Runners World website has got some really good science-backed stuff on nutrition. I think an area that has a lot of misinformation online as well. And then this is a hack, but I think it's one that really works.

19:09And it's scientifically proven. You've got to smile. When you smile, running feels easier. It genuinely feels easy because you're sending this message to your brain that things are going well. And you can do it during races. So there's a sort of term in marathon running, smile every mile, which is a bit cheesy. But it's a good free hack for making running feel better. does a grimace have the same effect it has the opposite effect actually yeah this um the studies it showed people kind of smiling faces um as well as asking them to smile and then the opposite was they showed kind of scowling faces came up and people slowed down and found the whole thing harder so if you saw my photos from the London marathon yeah no I know what you mean I'm the same the problem what the London marathon should really do and I think this could hopefully this will be the platform that gets set.

19:55They need to take pictures earlier in the race. No one looks good at mile 25. We need early photographers. This is what we need. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Early photos, please.

20:10I've run a marathon, as I've said many times through this episode. You didn't say, you should have said. You should have said. And you have run quite a few marathons. So, you know, we have drunk the Kool-Aid. but ultimately for people that have never really thought about running a marathon and haven't been to London on race day for the marathon could you take us through what the marathon does for London because yeah I think there's a level of kind of social cohesion that happens on the day yeah I think that's really true I think I think it's a in what can be quite a cynical city it's like the least cynical day in the world right it's like everyone's cheering for you generally and I think as a runner you feel like it's probably the closest most of us will ever get to feeling like a rock star I think literally thousands of people are sort of cheering your name and they want you to do well one of the pillars of the London Marathon is basically to show how the family of mankind can be united that was one of the main things they wanted out of the race which is a pretty lofty goal and I think now more than ever a goal like that is worth turning up for and putting the training in for like that's a fantastic thing to aim for so yeah I think it does wonders for the city obviously it puts it on the map it's still considered I think the best if not joint best with New York Marathon in the world and a big part of that is the Londoners that come out and cheer it on because support is loud and noisy all the way around and it makes such a difference to runners and I think to be there particularly I think this year will feel really special to be like we're going to unite around some really positive things here as a city and for running to be a catalyst for that is fab.

21:47I think especially the charity element makes this particular run so special. You know, everyone's wearing, well, if you're one of the lucky ballot winners, you know, you're running off your own accord, but most of the runners are not. They're running for charity. This is a huge project to have, you know, outside of work, outside of training to do the fundraising and to support a charity. It really is a wonderful thing. Definitely. Yeah, I think you're right. And I think I spoke to someone a while ago and he said the marathon day itself is like, it's a celebration of the person that you've become through training for the marathon.

22:24I think it's one of those real examples of like the process being as important as the outcome. Like it's actually those kind of four or five months that you put in. And as we said, it's a spring marathon. And so lots of that running will be in the kind of cold and the wet. And you get this day in April where hopefully it all comes together, but where you can actually celebrate a little bit the kind of person that you become through running. Right. Well, Rick, thanks so much for chatting with me. I've really, really enjoyed our conversation. It was great. Thank you for asking me to come on. It was a pleasure.

22:53And if anyone's listening who's going to be running London Marathon, very, very best of luck. Yes, absolutely.

23:03and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk if you're new here hit follow and give us a rating if you'd like to get in touch email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk we'll be back here on monday morning see you then

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