Virgin London Marathon updates GFA times. Big changes...

Gotta get those lottery winners from overseas in to spend tourist money, I guess.

bummer, I hate it when they change their QT *after* many spring marathons have already been run (it's not the first time they do it this way either!)

I did Milan 2 weeks ago with the sole purpose of getting a GFA for London 2019 so didn't go all out and finished in a safe 3:07:00 which, being in the 40-44 group, meant I was good for London but now I'm not... had I known it I would have pushed a bit more and gotten at least a 3:04:something

Women's GFA time for 20-39yo women at 3hr45 is an absolute joke. 25yo woman only has to be 15-mins quicker than a woman twice her age.

W20-39 should be at least 3hr30 - we're talking GOOD for age, not "I'm slightly dedicated enough to go and do a few months of running 2-3 times per week".

The above poster doing 3.07 is exactly why this is unfair, OK maybe you should have gone all out and ran 3.04 anyway but a lot of people aimed for 3.14 etc and got that in various spring marathons around Europe/UK to change after those is total crap.

And the ladies times are (still) ridiculously soft, hardly updated them at all.

I did 3:07 because the cut was 3:15 but anything slower than 3:10 felt like... too slow. 3:04 would not have been a problem without needing to go all out (all out ATM would be just under 3:00).

The point is in 2018 I've got other priorities but want to concentrate on marathons in 2019 so I followed the rules and got a GFA spot for London 2019 two fricking weeks ago and now they change it?

I am Male 18-39 Ran a 3:00:01 (gutted I know) in Brighton the day before they changed it to sub 3. I was safely under the 3:05 GFA Q time but didn't want to push it any harder as I have another race in 2 weeks time that I need to prepare for. I only ran this race with the intention of qualifying for London. Massively disappointing

Can someone break down the London process for me? Is this new or has this always been here? And this allows people from outside the UK to enter? I thought before you had to be a top elite coming from the US to get a bib OR go through a travel site and run the risk of not being in a good corral.

Is this similar to the sub-2:45 standards in Tokyo and Berlin? NYC and Chicago have guaranteed entry and Boston is qualify.

Try

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/how-to-enter/overseas-entry/

Uhhh wrote:

Try

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/how-to-enter/overseas-entry/

So the good for age entry is just for UK residents? If, say, I've run 2:37 I would have to try to get in with Marathon Tours and then pay a ton of $$$ for their package?

NERunner053 wrote:

So the good for age entry is just for UK residents? If, say, I've run 2:37 I would have to try to get in with Marathon Tours and then pay a ton of $$$ for their package?

How many times thousand does this question need to be asked here?

seriously???? wrote:

NERunner053 wrote:

So the good for age entry is just for UK residents? If, say, I've run 2:37 I would have to try to get in with Marathon Tours and then pay a ton of $$$ for their package?

How many times thousand does this question need to be asked here?

Do you know the answer but just wrote that instead? Genuinely curious if there isn't a way to get into London like there is for every other major

NERunner053 wrote:

seriously???? wrote:

How many times thousand does this question need to be asked here?

Do you know the answer but just wrote that instead? Genuinely curious if there isn't a way to get into London like there is for every other major

The answer has been written a thousand times on here in the last few weeks, in addition to being clearly stated on multiple official websites.

I have the same question.

Why TF are women's times 45 minutes slower?

Because currently hardly any women run marathons quicker than that. They want equal numbers of male and female GFA runners (no idea why) so the only way to do this is to have such disparity in qualification times.

They also are limiting each GFA gender to max 3000 places, which out of 30k is miniscule. This is what really really really annoys me, basically they don't want runners who actually train and earn their place being their, they want fucking people dressed as Shrek waddling around in 6hrs instead as that's really inspiring aparently.

heyyo wrote:

I have the same question.

I also would like to know if there's a time qualification standard for non UK runners and what it is.

NotGoingToLondon wrote:

Because currently hardly any women run marathons quicker than that. They want equal numbers of male and female GFA runners (no idea why) so the only way to do this is to have such disparity in qualification times.

They also are limiting each GFA gender to max 3000 places, which out of 30k is miniscule. This is what really really really annoys me, basically they don't want runners who actually train and earn their place being their, they want fucking people dressed as Shrek waddling around in 6hrs instead as that's really inspiring aparently.

+1, lost my GFA by 4 minutes and no time to get another thon in by August. Ficktards.

biogen wrote:

heyyo wrote:

I have the same question.

I also would like to know if there's a time qualification standard for non UK runners and what it is.

Unless you are an ELITE - then NO. Overseas runners eneter the (a) Lottery or (b) run for a charity (most have a target of £1000). So stop whining and do your bit for charity, or become an elite or enter the ballot. Or just STOP whining.

300,000 apply - hence the disappointment. It sucks, but then so does lack of gun control and we're not moaning about that are we? Turd.