Will it be more difficult to get into the big marthathons?

I've heard London's lottery is around a 6% acceptance rate and getting worse. Almost the only way to run it as a non-UK resident is either (1) be truly "elite" or (2) go the charity route. Qualifying times do not apply to foreigners.

I wonder how pi$$ed the Brits would be if we made Boston's qualifying times "US Resident only?"

Well, they’re obviously already getting harder to get into the lottery as long as the numbers are increasing. As for qualifying?

I’m only speculating: it’s reasonable to guess that a really high percentage of those people want to run a marathon, but don’t train incredibly seriously. So I don’t know that many of those new applications will yield particularly fast times.

Of course, another way of looking at that would be to see how much those are increasing relative to races across the board. Perhaps there’s a drift of runners from smaller races to the big ones, in which case you could conceivably have faster people as a higher percentage of the additional applicants.

Yeah, London had 578,374 applications this year for less than 50,000 spots.

I am getting a bit nervous about my hopes to run NY....

Yes. I'm pretty sure Chicago didn't require a lottery when I ran it in 2006. I got in NYC my first try with the lottery in 2008. Boston is a little tougher to qualify, but still doable for a decent casual runner that puts in a solid year or two of real training.

Your title asks whether it would be difficult to get into the big marthathons? I am not sure if that is what you meant, but if a big marthathon is like a Martha Stewart, I don’t think you’re getting in.

I haven't gotten into last 9 Berlin lotteries snd I'm 0-7 at Tokyo.

It's not getting difficult, its been difficult.

Become an influencer or join a "crew". They always seem to have good luck

Marathon tour operator. Will be more expensive but a guaranteed starting place.

why don't they just double or triple the amount of starting spots. hire more staff, stewards, put on more buses and trains. and for accommodation give everybody the option of sleeping in tents at football grounds or whatever; supply the tents for an extra fee or people can take their own.

In my experience, the big marthathons are much easier to get into than the skinny ones.

They're far more grateful for the whole experience too.

The influencers aren't getting in through the lottery. They get in through brand slots. Adidas, Nike, etc. give them entry.

Are you dumb? Why do you think races don’t do that? Go on, if you think for one second I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

thought for 1 second. didn't figure it out. so I must be right.