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[ Wire ] · Dispatch · Aug 09

When Is Each Marathon Major? The Full Race-Day Calendar

Nine races make up the current Marathon Majors calendar: eight confirmed Majors plus Shanghai, racing as a candidate for a ninth spot. None of them share a start date. The next confirmed Major race is Tokyo on March 7, 2027. Here is every one, in order, with each ballot's status right now.

The full calendar, in race-day order

  • Sydney, August 29, 2027. The ballot opens September 29 and closes October 19, 2026. Sydney drew 123,000-plus entries last cycle for a field targeting 40,000 finishers; no acceptance rate is published.
  • Berlin, September 26, 2027. The lottery runs October 1 to November 12, 2026, with results emailed December 3, 2026. SCC Events publishes no acceptance rate.
  • Chicago, October 10, 2027. The lottery runs October 8 to 29, 2026, with the drawing on December 8, 2026. The 2026 lottery drew a record 200,000-plus applications; Chicago Event Management publishes no acceptance rate.
  • New York, November 1, 2026. Drawing closed February 25, 2026, on a record 240,000-plus applications, only about 1% accepted. The next drawing is expected around February 2027.
  • Shanghai, December 6, 2026 (candidate race). Entry closed May 29, 2026, draw June 30, 2026, odds not yet published. This race day also carries Shanghai's second Abbott World Marathon Majors candidacy assessment; a pass would make it the ninth Major starting in 2027.
  • Tokyo, March 7, 2027. The next ballot window on the calendar: general entry opens August 14, 2026 and closes August 28, 2026, results due September 18, 2026. Tokyo's odds have held near 10% for several cycles.
  • Boston, April 19, 2027. No lottery, a qualifying-time window instead: opens September 14, 2026, closes September 18, 2026, acceptances due September 23, 2026. Entry depends on beating a published time standard, not a random draw.
  • London, April 25, 2027. Ballot already closed, May 1, 2026, on a record 1,338,544 applications, results announced July 9, 2026. No public acceptance rate has been released for this cycle.
  • Cape Town, May 23, 2027. Africa's first Major. Ballot closed June 24, 2026, results emailed June 26, 2026. No acceptance rate published yet.

Which window is open right now?

None. As of today, no Marathon Major ballot is accepting entries. The next one to open is Tokyo's, on August 14, 2026, five days from now, followed by Boston's qualifying window on September 14.

Why don't the Majors share a calendar?

Each race schedules its own ballot around its own race day and its own logistics, not around the other seven. Spring races like London and Tokyo open their windows four to eight months ahead. Autumn races like Berlin and Chicago run their lotteries the prior autumn, closer to a year out. New York, the calendar's final Major, opens earliest relative to its own race day because of the sheer size of its applicant pool. The pattern repeats every cycle; when does the marathon ballot open breaks down the month-by-month logic behind it.

How do I track a specific race's window?

Each race's own page carries its live entry-window countdown: Sydney, Berlin, Chicago, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, Boston, London, Cape Town. Free email alerts cover one Major of your choice at no cost, with a warning three days before its ballot opens, a reminder the day it closes, and a notice on results day.

Sources: Abbott World Marathon Majors, each race's own official registration page as tracked in this site's race pages

Sources Each race's official entry page Race days and entry windows per race from this site's majors.json, each independently sourced from the organiser's own registration page (accessed August 2026).