Runaway success: marathon organisers are seeing record demand

ALANA RANSON hit the ground running in 2023. Her housemates were joggers, so she thought she’d “give it a go” too. By November 2025—a little over two years after she first laced up her trainers—Ms Ranson had completed the Abbott World Marathon Majors (wmm), a series of prestigious races in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo.

Ever more people are going the distance. When gyms were forced to shut during the pandemic, many fitness fanatics turned to running to keep in shape. Plenty have maintained the habit, pushing themselves to go farther and faster. Around 60,000 runners will line up for the London Marathon on April 26th, up from 54,000 in 2024.

A record 1.1m people applied to sweat and suffer through the course in London this year—more than double the number that entered the public ballot in 2024. The New York City Marathon lottery also received its highest-ever number of applications, and only 1% of entrants were given a race bib. (To secure a spot outside the ballot, you have to be very fast or very good at raising money for charity.)

Race organisers are racing to meet demand. Tokyo has added more spaces. London is in consultations to host a two-day event in 2027; the firm behind it has also taken over races in Brighton and Frankfurt. “What we’re trying to do is give people more opportunity,” says Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events.

The wmm is hoping to add Cape Town and Shanghai to its list, so the medal given to those who complete all the major marathons will be even harder—and more desirable—to obtain. The European Marathons Classics, a new, eight-race challenge, also comes with a medal (and boasting rights).

The trend is driven by youngsters like Ms Ranson. Gen-Z runners make up a growing share of marathon applicants and finishers; the number who logged a marathon on Strava, a fitness-tracking app, increased by a third from 2024 to 2025. Given their supple joints, they will be able to keep going for some time. Marathon mania shows no signs of slowing down. ■