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[ Wire ] · Dispatch · Aug 02

London Marathon Good For Age, Explained

Good for Age (GFA) is London Marathon's faster, time-based entry route, open only to UK residents. The most recently published standards, for the 2026 race, require a sub 2:52:00 for men and a sub 3:38:00 for women aged 18 to 39, with slower standards at each older age band. Meeting the time does not guarantee a place outright.

What are the London Marathon Good For Age times?

For the 2026 race, the fastest band (18 to 39) needed 2:52:00 for men and 3:38:00 for women, tightening three minutes for men and two minutes for women compared with 2025 in every age category except 85 to 89 and 90 and over, which held flat. Standards slow progressively with age, reaching 7:20:00 for men and 7:45:00 for women at 90 and over. Full age-by-age tables are on the London Marathon page, or check your own age, division, and marathon time against the standard with the London Good For Age Checker.

How are Good For Age places allocated?

Places are capped at 6,000, split evenly between 3,000 men and 3,000 women, and allocated fastest first relative to age and qualifying time. That means beating the published standard only earns the right to apply. If more qualifiers apply than there is room for in a given age and gender category, London Marathon Events tightens the operative cutoff below the published time until the cap is filled, the same dynamic that drives Boston's qualifying cutoff.

Who is eligible for Good For Age entry?

Only UK residents can apply. The qualifying run has to fall inside a set window on a certified course; for the 2026 race, that window ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. International runners with a fast time have no GFA route into London and have to use the ballot, a tour operator package, or a Championship or club place instead.

Are the 2027 Good For Age standards out yet?

No. London Marathon Events has not published 2027 GFA times, and says on its own entry page that details will follow in autumn 2026. The 2:52:00 and 3:38:00 figures above are the last published standards, for reference, not a confirmed target for the 2027 race. Anyone training toward a GFA time for 2027 should treat those numbers as a rough guide and expect the real bar to move, most recent cycles have tightened rather than loosened.

How does GFA compare to the ballot?

GFA is not a fixed-odds draw the way the public ballot is. The 2027 London ballot accepted an estimated 1.3% of a record 1,338,544 applications, while GFA simply ranks every qualifier by margin under the standard and fills the 6,000 places from the top down. A runner who clears the published time by a wide margin has a far better real chance than the ballot's 1.3%, but a runner who just scrapes under it in a competitive age group can still miss out entirely. The full guide to every London Marathon entry route covers GFA alongside charity, Championship, club, and tour-operator entry.

Sources: London Marathon Events: Good for Age entry

Sources London Marathon Events GFA standards, place cap, qualifying window, and eligibility from londonmarathonevents.co.uk (accessed August 2, 2026); 2025 to 2026 standard change confirmed via Athletics Weekly reporting