The organisers of the London Marathon have announced the postponement of the 40th annual event, which was due to take place on Sunday 26th April. Rather than cancel the event entirely, a new date of Sunday 4th October has been set.
Hugh Brasher, event director, said: “The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19, and public health is everyone’s priority.
“We know how disappointing this news will be for so many – the runners who have trained for many months, the thousands of charities for which they are raising funds and the millions who watch the race every year.
“We know that there will be many, many questions from runners, charities and others and we ask you to please bear with us as we work through the detailed planning process to deliver the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon on its new scheduled date. We will email all runners and charities today and then update them via email by the end of next week at the latest. We will also post regular updates on our website and social media channels.”
The organisers have also issued further guidance, but have stressed runners don’t need to do anything at this point.
If you have a ballot place you’ll be able to run on the rescheduled date without any further payment. If you can’t make the new date for whatever reason you can receive a refund or donate it to the charitable trust. There’s also the option to defer your place to the following year.
If you happened to defer your ballot place until 2021, but can run the race in October, you’ll be given the option to change your mind, although you can stick with your decision to wait until 2021 if you wish.
If you are running through a charity, talk to the charity which “owns” the race place. London Marathon Events will communicate with those bodies to arrange substitutions if required.
If you qualified through the Good For Age process you will be automatically entered into the race in October. If you cannot take your place on the start line you will receive a full refund, but you won’t be able to defer your place to the following year.
