Virgin Money London Marathon

Virgin Money London Marathon

Virgin Money London Marathon
4.5
About
36,000 runners take to the streets of central London each April to compete in the annual London Marathon – the second largest in the world. Whether you’re entering the race or simply want to cheer on the runners, the atmosphere is truly electric, and the imaginative fancy dress on display is second to none! Stretching from Greenwich to St James’ Park, the route passes by some of London’s most iconic landmarks, so do your research and pick your spectator spot wisely.
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The area
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Neighbourhood: Greenwich
Greenwich Mean Time starts here, so to speak, as the very concept of global time was established at Royal Observatory, just one of several buildings of architectural interest in Greenwich. Indeed, the whole of Greenwich's historic town center, its Royal Park and a number of related buildings (and one world famous ship, the Cutty Sark) make up the UNESCO World Heritage site known as Maritime Greenwich. Today a laser beam is shot out across the night sky from the Observatory to mark the location of the Prime Meridian. Other bold (some say brash) 21st century additions to the area include landmarks such as The O2 entertainment complex (previously known as the Millennium Dome) and the Air Line cable cars, which offer scenic transport across the Thames between North Greenwich and the Royal Docks.
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles71 reviews
Excellent
46
Very good
17
Average
3
Poor
2
Terrible
3

DaveA
3 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2022 • Family
My wife has tried to get in every year since 2010 ( now rejected for 2023 )
I did it 5 times before 2000, seemed easier then, and a lot less emphasis on getting you to part with as much money as possible, It feels like Money first, and everything else second these days, but I tried I have been rejected the last 5 years, not so bothered for me, but keep hoping for her sake.

I've done a lot of other marathons in the UK, London is not even close to being in the top 10 marathons I have done, but it is the largest, easily the most commercial by a long way, but not even close to being the best in the UK but I suppose it depends what you want from your day.

I've also been a spectator in the last few years, mainly to support someone, although it's a lot of effort for a couple of second glimpses of that person, good fun to watch, but hard to get to the best places. If you don't get in, look around, lots of better options, just not as big or as well known to the average person, or non-runner.

I understand why people want to do it at least once, but better choices are available in the UK and beyond.

But every year they got far more entries than they can handle, so a lot of people must be happy with the way it is, good luck to those that have got in for the next one,
Written 6 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Stylishvue
32 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2023
A great event with lots of crowd support throughout. The bag drop off and event flows well and is very organised. The route of the marathon has too many miles in Canary Wharf. It is a fantastic event and there is a lot of atmosphere to it.
Written 24 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leon R
1 contribution
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022
The London Marathon 2022 was very good overall. There were a couple of things for me that could easily have been done differently to make the experience much better for participates.

The race numbers could and should be posted out. It is extremely difficult and stressful to get across to the ExCel on time on the Saturday, or any other day if you are from outside of London. There was a national rail strike which made getting to london by any other means very difficult. This was known in advance but nothing was put in place to help or ease things for runners. I was delayed by 3hours due to motorway closures and extra congestion. I made it with 2 mins to spare, but on the second of 5:30pm they closed the registration. Others were still coming in so I dread to think how many people missed out and couldn't run. They could have given an extra grace period, or better still posted the numbers like everyone would expect. I guess they want people to attend the running expo so then ticket prices might go up due to less income, but made the experience very stressful.

The different coloured wave starts were set off at very different times. I was fortunate to be in wave 1 but was in the red zone. We were set off around 20mins after wave 1 of the blue or green zones. This meant that we spent around 20miles trying to get past slower runners. I ran 2hours 51mins, but didn't go past the 3hour pace maker until around mile 20. It is basics of using wave starts and would have assumed that an event like the London Marathon could have handled this. Set people of similar running times off at the same time across all waves. Runners were having to use pavements and cycle lanes to try and get by. It is frustrating that you spend so long training but your time comes down to bad organisation.
Written 4 October 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Clive T
London, UK40 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2021 • Solo
Event day fantastic. Having to spend £40 to pick up race number from a pointless money making expo absolute rubbish. A whole day to spend 10 minutes picking up a number? Come on!
Written 10 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ivaylo U
London, UK32 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2019 • Business
Was just unbelievable how Virgin staff was keeping there atatud
Lime tbsy are OWNERs of Virgin Money.... Not employees..... There mislieding you in any kind of way.... Very uneducated guys ...am not recomending any use of any service
Written 28 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mel O'Sullivan
Sydney, Australia88 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Solo
This was my first marathon experience. It was quite a mixed day. I had managed to secure a charity space in the race. I was in the first 'red number' starting zone - just behind the elites. The race was very, very crowded. I saw runners dropping mobile phones, clipping each other's heels and several 'near miss' situations with central reserve barriers. I can only imagine that it must have been much worse towards the back of the field. The worst hazard for runners was water bottles. Generally, these seemed to be dropped by other runners without being drained. They were a real menace to anyone who stepped on them. It was only after half-way that there was sufficient space to run freely. Before that, it was a constant zig-zag around and in-between other runners. On the plus side, the crowds were great and offered lots of encouragement. The course is flat with lots of iconic sights.
Written 9 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Liz O
Horsham, UK41 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019
As I went round roads were reopening, lack of drinks, and NO T shirt to fit. :( Please can the Grandstand be opened up to the public friends and relatives of the runners. Its so sad to arrive to an empty stand. Volunteers and the public that I met on route however were great
Written 7 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jamie
Somerset, UK9 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2019 • Friends
This as my first visit to watch the London Marathon and went with family to support Ollie on his 1st marathon. Traveled by rail into London Waterloo arriving just before 11. The bulk of the runners depart at 10.10 local so wea arrived to be able to watch Ollie pass the 10 mile mark. Using the Official Virgin Tracker we were able to monitor Ollie’s progress and regulars updates maintained. Atmosphere is amazing and lots of encouragement to the runners. Moved onto the Embankment via the London Underground, contactless or Oyster Card in seedless and on the day a party vibe even on the tube. Next stop the 20 mile and a street band were brilliant playing non stop adding to a great carnival feel. From there a short walk up to the Mall to watch the finish and cheer on Ollie as he smashed under 4 hours. The whole day was a great experience, lots of positivity and with the aid of the host of information from the organisers you can plan locations to support the runners or chose a pitch for the whole event. Best runners complete in just over 2 hours and spare a thought for the costumed runners who are 4 hours and beyond. Noose comfortable shoes, travel light and check the weather forecast. Download the app, track individuals by name or race number in advance. My congratulations to Ollie and all the runners who competed but the real winners are the hundreds of charities who benefit from the hard work and dedication of the runners, the volunteers and support staff. Well done all.
Written 7 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Catie445
Sheffield, UK100 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Family
After running the marathon myself I know that this can be an amazing experience. However the way the slower runners were treated at the marathon in 2019 is unforgivable. Every person at the start line has put a lot of effort in to train and possibly fundraise for charity. The cost of accommodation, food and travel all builds up. Every runner should get the same experience. To put a 7.5 hour pacer on the course but then clean up around those runners, remove water stations, have vehicles on the course putting people at risk and spray chemicals at people is awful. Hopefully VLM will make sure this doesn’t happen again!
Written 5 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lisa P
Downham Market, UK136 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Couples
Fantastic event to spectate we went to support my “running wife” unfortunately she didn’t spot us
Only criticism was we had sympathy for those who entered as a challenge who can’t run the whole thing there were official pacers for 7 hours plus but the sweeper bus appeared to overtake them and the roads reopen which must be so deflating for those taking part it was horrible to see
If you have an official pacer then the sweeper bus should be paced behind them and the water stations and photographers should remain in place
It takes just as much effort to be out on the course for that amount of time as it does for half that time
Written 30 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Virgin Money London Marathon