The London Marathon organisers have announced that their policy of 5 rejections guaranteeing a race place is no longer workable and is to be phased out over the next few marathons.
What exactly this means is, I suppose, ia that they are only honouring the 5 time reject rule for the entrance to the next 3 races. After that, no more 5 times reject.
For those that do not know, the 5 times rule basically give prospective runners who have been rejected 5 times from consecutive races a guaranteed entrance into the 6 race.
It is, they say, because the number of entries make it impossible to guarantee these entrance positions and I can well understand that. As more people enter, more people are falling into this rule and there are less positions available for everyone else, adding to the number of people qualifying.
As part of this they are introducing a priority admission for all impending runners who were rejected in both the last two ballots. Now this is what I cannot understand! How this helps phase out the system I am not sure, but what it does do is to allow those of us with the required rejections to enter in comfort in excess of the next 10 days, before the mad rush of entries more than probably merely a few days when entries open properly.
It is also budding that they are reacting to the various bad comments of running forums last year, whereby lots of runners where unable to enter as the online application process was beyond capacity. I did hear of people with 4 rejections not being able to enter, which is a tremendous shame.
On the other hand, this does mean that they are adding to their own problem by ensuring that all runners with a couple of rejections can now get their names down for next year’s race. My admission went through without a difficulty, unlike the entry process for last year!
The concern is though, where will these extra spaces that are freed up go to? Will they be returned to ballot applications to allow more through, or to the highly lucrative charity places, which earn the organisers plenty of money each year and will not benefit the average club runner?
Also, what will happen to the extra guaranteed places? The deferrals for injured runners and the club runner places?
The London Marathon was created to get people running and enjoying running. If a lot of importance moves towards the charity places then the standard club runner will no longer be able to compete, as the thousands needed to gain one of these places is a real ask.
Maybe one day there will be a second London Marathon. But the way the organisers are defending their corner of the market, I doubt it.
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Written by Keith Lunt, of Formby Online and Phone Mobile Buyer .
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