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Aug 01 NYC Marathon Lottery Odds: 1 in 100 and Falling Aug 01 Marathon Ballot Dates: Every Major Window Aug 01 Does the Boston Marathon Have a Ballot? Aug 01 How to Apply for the Tokyo Marathon Ballot Jul 31 What Is the Easiest Marathon Major to Get Into? Jul 30 London Marathon Ballot Odds: The Real Math Behind 1.3% Jul 29 Tokyo Marathon 2027 Lottery Opens August 14 Jul 29 Tokyo Marathon Ballot Odds: 20 Years of Numbers Jul 29 Tokyo Marathon Entry Fee 2027: What It Costs Jul 29 Tokyo Marathon Qualifying Times: 2:22 and 2:50
[ Wire ] · Dispatch · Aug 01

Marathon Ballot Dates: Every Major Window

Two Abbott World Marathon Major entry windows have confirmed dates left in 2026. The Tokyo Marathon 2027 ballot runs August 14 to 28, 2026, and Boston Marathon 2027 qualifier registration runs September 14 to 18, 2026. Sydney, Berlin and Chicago all expect their 2027 windows before the end of the year, but none of the three has published dates yet.

Which marathon ballots are open right now?

None of the eight Majors has a general ballot open today. Tokyo's priority routes, the Semi-Elite RUN as ONE entry and the ONE TOKYO GLOBAL member entry, are open until August 13, 2026, but both are restricted routes rather than the public draw. The next open door for any runner is Tokyo general entry on August 14.

Confirmed Marathon Major ballot dates

Tokyo Marathon 2027. General entry opens 11:00 a.m. JST on Friday, August 14, 2026 and closes 5:00 p.m. JST on Friday, August 28, 2026. Results September 18, 2026. Race day Sunday, March 7, 2027. Step by step instructions are in how to apply for the Tokyo Marathon ballot.

Boston Marathon 2027. Qualifier registration opens Monday, September 14 and closes 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 18, 2026. Boston has no public ballot, only a qualifying window plus a new random draw for around 1,000 qualifiers who miss the cutoff, explained in does the Boston Marathon have a ballot.

Windows expected but not yet announced

These races have not published their next entry dates. What follows is the most recent published cycle, which is the honest way to plan around them.

Sydney Marathon. The 2026 ballot ran September 24 to October 17, 2025, with results October 29, 2025. The 2027 window should follow the same shape after the August 30, 2026 race, but no dates are confirmed. Sydney currently has the best published odds of any Major, near 32.5%, which makes it the one worth an alert. Details on the Sydney Marathon page.

Berlin Marathon. The 2026 lottery ran September 25 to November 6, 2025, with results at the end of November. Berlin typically opens days after race day, and the 2026 race is September 27. Nothing for 2027 is published yet. See the Berlin Marathon page.

Chicago Marathon. The 2026 lottery closed November 18, 2025 with the drawing on December 11, 2025. The organizers have not announced 2027 dates. The 2026 race is October 11, and Chicago's window has historically opened in the weeks after it. See the Chicago Marathon page.

Windows that already closed for the 2027 cycle

London Marathon 2027. The ballot ran April 24 to May 1, 2026 and drew a record 1,338,544 applications. Results went out July 9, 2026. The 2028 ballot should open in the days after the April 25, 2027 race. Full numbers on the London Marathon page.

Cape Town Marathon 2027. Africa's first Major ran its ballot June 10 to 24, 2026, with results June 26, 2026, ahead of the May 23, 2027 race. See the Cape Town Marathon page.

New York City Marathon. The 2026 drawing application ran February 4 to 25, 2026, with the drawing March 4, 2026, and set a record 240,000 plus applications. The 2027 window is expected around February 2027. See the New York City Marathon page.

The pattern that predicts almost every window

Six of the eight Majors open their next ballot within weeks of running the current edition. London opens days after race day, Berlin and Chicago in the following weeks, Sydney about a month later. New York is the exception on the other side, opening in February for a November race, and Tokyo is the true outlier, opening seven months out for a March race. If you know a Major's race date, you can guess its ballot window within a few weeks. What you cannot guess is the exact day, which is the entire reason ballot windows get missed.

Which ballot should you enter?

By published odds, Sydney at roughly 32.5% and Chicago at roughly 25% are the realistic entries, Berlin at roughly 20% is next, Tokyo sits near 10%, and London at 1.3% and New York at roughly 1% are close to raffle tickets. The full ranking is in your real odds at all 8 Marathon Majors, and the ballot simulator shows how repeated attempts compound at each race.

Free alerts cover every window on this page, one when it opens and one before it closes, which matters most for the five races whose dates have not been announced yet.

Sources: Tokyo Marathon Foundation, Boston Athletic Association, BMW Berlin Marathon lottery, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, TCS Sydney Marathon ballot information, New York Road Runners drawing

Sources Abbott World Marathon Majors Each window verified at the organizing race's own entry page: marathon.tokyo, baa.org, tcslondonmarathon.com, bmw-berlin-marathon.com, chicagomarathon.com, nyrr.org, tcssydneymarathon.com, capetownmarathon.com (all accessed August 1, 2026). Windows described as expected are explicitly labelled as unannounced and carry the previous cycle's published dates as reference, never a projection stated as fact.