These people shouldn’t be allowed to enter the London Marathon

[Notbeinggoadybut]

Like most runners I put my name into the ballot every year, and have never been picked not bitter at all.

The footage of the “last finishers” sets my teeth off a bit. I think if you can’t finish the marathon in say, 6.5-7 hours, you shouldn’t be taking a ballot place that could be allocated to someone who actually wants to RUN the marathon. There are plenty of walking marathons for people who prefer to walk, don’t be selfish and take a slight after place for a RUNNING race. I mean the key is even in the slogan, “We run together”.

AIBU?

on the fence with this one (5 years in the ballot and never a place)
I agree that it’s frustrating when someone has a place and doesn’t train for it - I’d bloody love to be doing it and running!
but then I think - what if I’d got a place then couldn’t manage the training but cracked on and walked it anyway? Surely that’s a good thing. Or maybe I’ve gone from doing nothing a week to some walks as a place in the marathon totally inspired me?

Not all of the walkers are there by ballot though, it’s a huge money making machine especially for charities. And let’s face it, they don’t care what speed you complete in as long as they get the £2500+ in fundraising.

I think you are not in charge and people can do it how they like if it’s in the rules

The London Marathon should be for anyone. Not just "proper runners" or "elite runners". People have different reasons and stories for doing it and I don't care if it took them 20 hours. They deserve to be able to do it if they want to.

Nah. I don't agree. And I say that as someone who ran yesterday, in what would be considered a good time.

The London marathon is a bit of everything - it's an elite running event, a mass running event, a charity fundraiser and yes, a challenge for non-runners.
They have the course cut off times so marshals aren't out there all day, and those who are going to be out for 8+ hours know they'll be doing it on their own, without the crowds etc.
There are plenty of races for "proper" runners. Go and do Manchester, Edinburgh or Brighton - they're faster courses anyway. And if you run a decent enough time on those then you can get a GFA or Championship place for London...

Yabu

Running or jeffing is choice

Doesn't matter what the finishing time is. It's a charity race, a fundraiser

I've run it myself,twice. Your time will be affected by the sheer amount of obstacles and fellow runners in the way.

But if they are doing it for charity surely that's a good thing ?admittedly I'm not a runner and would never aspire to be but I think it's admirable that some people raise thousands for charities ,a lot of them are very small charities who rely on donations .

The cut-off time is 8 hours (used to be 7), so I think only those who have a realistic expectation of finishing in 7hr30 should apply in the ballot (I'm allowing 30 mins as a safety margin)

But you don't know from looking who has a ballot place and who has a charity place.

I do think that as this is one of the major running events of the world, that it would be better if people were generally intending to run. But the organisers seem very proud of the mass participation aspect, so I don't expect it'll be changing.

What proportion of tickets are allocated via clubs?

Just trying to think of all the entry categories

Elite
Elite wheelchair
General wheelchair
(Assisted wheelchair - or is that not a separate category?)

GFA
Running clubs
Promotional (via sponsors/competitions)
Charity bond holders
Charity ballot

International ballot
First round ballot
Second round ballot (those who 'bequeath' fee)

Have I missed any?

8 hours cut off time? I could walk it quicker than that. I actually agree with you OP

Not sure how you’d police it

I literally couldn't disagree more.

My own DSis is an excellent club runner who got a good-for-age place (and a PB) yesterday at London Marathon and frequently finishes in top 10s, sometimes first woman.

She organises loads of training for less elite runners locally and her aim is to just to get people out and running regardless of their weight, speed or confidence.

If you are so keen but don't want to take a charity place, why don't you join a running club and put your name down for a place? I've not done London marathon but I've done other races and just not run for a charity (or run for charity and just paid the money myself rather than big people).

If someone was looking for sponsorship with no intention of actually trying to train for it (obviously life gets in the way and they might not complete their plan - illness, injury, general life events, understandable) then I wouldn’t want to sponsor them. I’d rather donate directly to a charity instead! Surely the effort is important?

@Notbeinggoadybut but who are you to police it? What if some of those limping along to the finish are recovering from the illnesses they are raising money for?

I’m in a running club @tinselandjoy, there’s still no guaranteed place as I’m not good enough/confident enough to get a specific time. But if I was lucky enough to get a place I would bloody well give the training my all and finish in hopefully less than 5 hours (ie RUN the marathon, albeit slower than many!).

@OnlyFoolsnMothers i think the only way is to reduce the cut off time, so that people who have no intention of training won’t try and enter.

Obviously not to everyone. YABU and just don’t sound like a particularly nice person to be honest.

@tinselandjoy I’m referring to people I know, so if Joe Bloggs in work wanted to get a charity place so was asking for sponsorship every 5 minutes when I knew full well he wouldn’t be trying to train, I would rather not sponsor him.

I'd rather they cut the celebs who seem to be able to get a spot whenever they like

Ableism in action 🙄

YABVU. It’s a huge event so it should be open to everyone. Runners alone are not worth shutting down most of London for a day.

8 hours may be their absolute best effort. They deserve a chance as much as anyone.

I hate the bitterness from those who haven’t managed to get a ballot place. If something mattered that much to me that it made me critical and nasty about the achievements of others, I’d take a charity place and raise the money.

Yabvu.

So if that's your time (around 5 hours) then why should YOU be allowed to take a place??

If you can't run faster then that you'll be taking a valuable place a proper, runner could use

Also some get injured and still want to finish so may have started off at their usual good pace but want to finish so struggle at the end and take longer. Hats off to all of those who finish, whatever their time.

I agree with you, OP. It's a running event. There are lots of walking events for those who can't run. Fair enough those who underestimate the training and struggle or the run/walkers, but to enter with no intention of running it is a bit of a waste of everyone's time. If I sponsored someone I'd assume I was sponsoring them for going through the whole process, training and all.

I know of someone like this. They somehow got a charity place, did no training, raised a whopping £130 for their charity, and took 7 hours to finish.

I have other friends who have tried for years to get a place, unsuccessfully, and it seems rather off that someone who did the above can get a place when people who genuinely want to run (or who are committed to raising the charity minimums at the very least!) can't get in.

But taking 8 hours is not running! Enter a walking race/marathon/whatever if you’re a walker.

I follow a self made runner on Instagram who has hip dysplasia, has only been running a short time, and they recently did a marathon in about 5 hours odd. They walked a bit when they needed to but they didn’t walk the whole bloody thing. You have to be going very slowly to take 8 hours.