If you missed the London Marathon ballot, Good for Age is the other door in. Run a fast enough time on the right kind of course, apply in the window, and you can earn a place on merit.
The 2027 Good for Age applications closed on 29 October 2026. So if you're reading this now, the question that matters is the next one... how do you make sure the time you run this spring actually gets you in?
Here are the current standards, the rules that catch people out, and how I'd plan a spring marathon around a Good for Age time.
London Marathon Good for Age times (2027 race)
These are the standards London Marathon Events published for the 2027 race. They were unchanged from 2026. Times are for a full marathon.
- 18 to 39: men sub 2:52, women sub 3:38
- 40 to 44: men sub 2:57, women sub 3:43
- 45 to 49: men sub 3:02, women sub 3:46
- 50 to 54: men sub 3:07, women sub 3:53
- 55 to 59: men sub 3:12, women sub 3:58
- 60 to 64: men sub 3:34, women sub 4:23
- 65 to 69: men sub 3:52, women sub 4:53
- 70 to 74: men sub 4:52, women sub 5:53
- 75 to 79: men sub 5:07, women sub 6:13
- 80 to 84: men sub 5:27, women sub 6:38
- 85 to 89: men sub 6:10, women sub 7:10
- 90 and over: men sub 7:20, women sub 7:45
Source: London Marathon Events, Good for Age entry, checked 9 November 2026. Always check that page before you plan a race around a number.
To put the youngest bands into pace terms: sub 2:52 is about 4:04 per kilometre (6:34 per mile). Sub 3:38 is about 5:10 per kilometre (8:19 per mile). That's every kilometre, from the start line to the finish.
How Good for Age entry works
For the 2027 race, the rules were:
- Qualifying window: times run between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.
- Application window: 1 to 29 October 2026. It's now closed.
- Places: 6,000 in total, 3,000 men and 3,000 women.
- UK residents only. You need proof of residence and proof of age.
- Certified course, run in person. The marathon has to be on a course certified by UK Athletics, AIMS or the national governing body where the race took place. You submit a link to the official results, not a watch file.
- Your age when you ran the time sets your age band, not your age on race day.
2027 is also a one-off two-day London. The men's Good for Age race is on Saturday 24 April and the women's on Sunday 25 April. The London Marathon race guide covers the course, the two days and how to time your training block.
Running the time doesn't guarantee the place
This is the bit people miss. Meeting the standard only gives you the right to apply. When more people apply than there are places, London allocates them fastest first within each age category. In other words, it looks at how far inside the standard you ran.
So a 2:51:50 in the 18 to 39 men's band is a qualifying time... and it may still not be enough. London doesn't publish a fixed cut-off in advance, so nobody can tell you exactly how much margin you'll need.
What that means for your planning is simple. Treat the standard as the floor, not the target. Build your block to run comfortably inside it, and don't build your whole year on scraping under it by seconds.
What about the 2028 race?
As of 9 November 2026, London Marathon Events hasn't published Good for Age times or a qualifying window for 2028.
Here's my read, and it's an inference, not an announcement. The last two windows each ran from 1 October to 30 September the following year. If London keeps that pattern, a marathon run in spring or summer 2027 would sit inside the 2028 window. The standards could change, though, so check the official page as soon as the 2028 details are out, and before you commit to a race.
The age band detail that matters for masters runners
Because your age band is set by your age on the day you ran the qualifier, timing matters if you're close to a birthday that moves you up a band.
A man who turns 40 in February and runs his marathon in April qualifies against the 40 to 44 standard of 2:57, not 2:52. The gaps are biggest from 60 upwards: 3:12 to 3:34 for men moving from 55 to 59 into 60 to 64, and 3:58 to 4:23 for women.
That isn't a loophole. It's how the rules are written. If you're a few months off a new age band, it's worth knowing before you pick your spring race.
How I'd plan a spring Good for Age attempt
1. Get an honest starting point
Before you pick a target, find out where you actually are. A recent half marathon is the best guide most people have. If your current half doesn't point clearly inside the standard, the time isn't lost... it just might be a two-block goal rather than a one-block goal.
Be wary of half-to-full conversions. They assume you've done the marathon-specific work, and a lot of runners haven't.
2. Use November and December for the base
For an April marathon, a 16 to 18 week block starts around late December or early January. The weeks before that are where Good for Age attempts are won or lost.
Use them to build regular, mostly easy running you can repeat week after week, with some strides and some strength work. Arrive at the start of the block already able to handle the work, rather than starting from scratch after Christmas.
3. Make threshold your first big lever
For most people chasing these times, marathon pace sits a fair way below threshold. The higher you can push threshold, the easier goal pace feels and the longer you can hold it. Sessions like cruise intervals and controlled tempo work are the engine. I go through how I build threshold in the sub-90 half marathon block, and it carries straight over.
4. Then make goal pace durable
Plenty of runners can hold 4:04 per kilometre for 10 miles. Good for Age is decided by whether you can still hold it at 22. That's durability, and it comes from marathon-pace blocks inside long runs, built up over the second half of the block, with easy running around them.
If your marathons have tended to fall apart late, read why your legs fall apart at mile 20. The fix usually isn't just more miles.
5. Rehearse your fuelling
Carbohydrate during the race matters for a marathon. A widely cited review suggests up to about 90 grams per hour for efforts over two and a half hours, using a mix of carbohydrate types (Jeukendrup, Sports Medicine, 2014). Your gut needs training to cope with that, so practise it in long runs, not for the first time on race day.
Choosing the race
Pick your qualifier for the time, not the medal.
- Certified course. Check this first. If it isn't certified, it doesn't count.
- Flat and fast. Fewer hills and fewer tight turns mean fewer chances to lose time. Our list of the flattest marathons in the UK is a good place to start.
- Cool and early in the year. Heat costs time. A spring race with an early start gives you the best odds.
- A field you can run with. Holding goal pace alone into a headwind is much harder than sitting in a group.
- Room for a back-up. If the first attempt goes wrong, is there a later race still inside the window?
Pace it evenly
Most failed Good for Age attempts aren't about fitness. They're about the first 10k. Banked time is borrowed time, and the second half collects the interest.
The data backs this up. An analysis of recreational marathon results found that faster finishers tended to pace more evenly, while runners who started fast were more likely to slow badly late on (Smyth, Journal of Sports Analytics, 2018).
Start at goal pace or a touch slower, settle in, and let the second half decide it. If you're good enough on the day, you'll have the legs to finish strongly.
Want help planning it?
You can build all of this yourself from the steps above.
If you'd rather have a coach plan the block around your current fitness, your age band and the race you've picked, that's what we do at Maximum Mileage. See the coaching options.
