Marathon 2026 - Alternatives to London

[xsquared]

In theory, I can enter London with a GFA time. However, my training partner and I want to do one together next year, after she forgot to defer this year.

Our next choice would have been Manchester, and we naively thought there would still be spaces left, given we entered on New year's eve a few years ago. That has sold out already, probably because filled up with London ballot rejectees!

Brighton has been mentioned, but again that has sold out too.

Edinburgh seems to be the likeliest option at the moment, although a few people have said negative things about it.

We are ultimately looking for a flattish road marathon in order to get a qualifying time for our age.

If you've done a few, which ones would you recommend, and if you've done Edinburgh, how did it compare to say, London?

Thank you in advance.

I did Edinburgh this year and really enjoyed it, and was very pleasantly surprised by the support from the locals after reading reviews like the above! I also thought it was lovely and speedy.

Downsides (which personally I do not think are major):

• Was a bit congested at the start as the waves are very big
• It's Scotland - we got alllllll the weather including beating sun and hail in the 3.5hrs I was running
• Getting back into town is a bit of a schlep but I actually think the walk to the busses meant I felt great later in teh day/the morning after!

Thank you @StrawberryPi for your detailed feedback on Edinburgh. Did you get a good time on the course in comparison to another marathon that you've done?

Asking to gauge what sort of time I might end up with. I've ran 3 others, my last two being Boston and London which were a minute apart.

It looks like it's between Brighton and Edinburgh.

@FeelinTwentySixPointTwo I take it you've done both? Where would be best to stay as a participant for Brighton? I've read it's crazily busy, so I think I'd avoid the seafront, and it's between Hove and somewhere near Preston Park!

I was very pleased with my time! It is slightly hard to compare as I trained much better and more concertedly for this marathon than any previous, but I was aiming for 3hrs40 (stretch goal 3hrs38 to get London Good for Age time!) and sneaked in with 30s to spare on the GfA!!

To me it felt like a pretty speedy course - things started off a bit slow but the crowed thinned out fast and the first few miles are downhill which I found really got me in my stride. The last few miles were pretty tough going (aren't they always!) with a headwind, but I don't think this affected my time by more than a couple of minutes.

Hopefully that is helpful - happy to answer any other specific questions!

Hi @xsquared - yep Brighton is crazy busy but not as manic as London in terms of trying to find accommodation. I've done it a few different ways in the past- stayed in Hove but also stayed out on the railway line in Falmer. Much cheaper and only 10 mins or so on the train into Brighton for the start.

I did Belfast this year. It is a really good one and I enjoyed it. After Leeds (which is really hilly so not what you are after) it was my favourite.

I've also done Manchester which I enjoyed and York - never again, but I have done that 3 times due to it being one I can go and come back in a day so no hotels etc to factor into cost.

Before I picked Manchester last year I looked into the costs of a few. I looked at the marathon itself, a quick check on Booking dot come and travel costs. Edinburgh was the most expensive due to accommodation costs, but I was also looking at Copenhagen, Madrid and Geneva as I, too, was looking at Spring marathons. No idea if they are flat or hilly TBH, they were just ideas.