The London Marathon traditionally has a policy of awarding EA-affiliated Clubs a number of places, based on the Club’s size. Where Worthing Gazelles qualify for places, we will apply for the maximum number of places available.
Once all the other entry results have been released for this year’s event (e.g. general ballot, Good For Age, Championship, etc.), we will open a Club ballot for any places that we have been able to obtain.
The ballot
In the likely event that we have more applications than places, the Club’s selected athlete will be decided by ballot.
The ballot itself can be done physically (i.e., names in a hat) or electronically (i.e., a random generator). However, it should be conducted independently and with as many witnesses as possible.
This is good for a couple of reasons:
- To ensure the full transparency of the balloting process
- As a social event; the London Marathon club ballot should be celebrated, with as many club members and applicants invited to build the tension!
Transparency is absolutely critical here: At the time of the ballot, reasonable efforts should be made to demonstrate that all applicants had equal opportunity.
Subject to qualification criteria (below), all applicants will have equal chance. In particular:
- No preference will be awarded due to expected finish time
- No preference will be awarded due to the number of marathons previously completed or booked for the future
- No preference will be awarded due to length of time as a member of the Club
- No preference will be awarded due to having ‘won’ or consistently ‘lost’ the ballot in previous years
- No preference will be awarded due to seniority in the club (e.g., part of the committee)
This is not an exhaustive list, but a good indication of our policy on equality of opportunity.
Expectations of the selected runner and qualification criteria
However, there are a couple of rules. The club representative (runner) must:
- Be a full, paid-up member of the club at the time of the ballot and at the time of the marathon (these may be in different membership years)
- Be EA-affiliated with Worthing Gazelles as their first or only claim
- Wear a club kit or club colours for the race, where possible
- Have already unsuccessfully entered this year’s London Marathon through other methods, such as general ballot, Good For Age or Championship places; and have evidence of this, if requested.
- Make every effort to sign up and pay their entry fee within the timeframes set by London Marathon. (We don’t want the instance where the club place is not used with other applicants having wanted the place.) If paying for the club place in the appropriate timeframe is problematic, please communicate with the Club.
- Make reasonable efforts to run the race, stay fit and avoid deferring their place. (Of course, this can often not be helped, but every reasonable effort should be made to avoid it.)
- The entry is not transferrable to someone else. If you can no longer take part in the race, you forego your place. If this is before the entry deadline, then we will re-ballot the entry; otherwise we will unfortunately forego the place.
Where these rules are not adhered to may lead to applicants being excluded from future London Marathon club entry ballots.
Respect
As many of us know, the London Marathon is a bucket list event, and being unsuccessful in (repeatedly!) entering the race is tough and is an emotive subject. We would encourage other members to be kind and respectful to those who managed to get a place, as well as those who weren’t quite so fortunate this time round.