Participants running past popular tourist attraction Siegessaule or Victory Column, during the recent Berlin Marathon. — Reuters
Gaining entry to one of the world’s biggest and most elite marathons has gotten harder in recent years.
The distance is the same, as are the courses, but the booming interest in completing a 42km race has made entering marathon lotteries feel like buying a jackpot ticket, especially for one of the six – now seven – World Marathon Major races. More than one million people entered the lottery for a spot in London’s 2026 race in England.
But there is a back door, if you can afford it: marathon tour operators. These niche companies sell packages that can cost well over US$4,000 (RM16,848) for a race bib and accommodations, airfare not included. That compares with an average of about US$200 (RM842) in race fees that a lottery winner or runners who meet a time-qualifying standard would pay to get into a major race like London or the recent Berlin race in Germany, though they would still have to pay for travel and accommodations.
Depending on the race, and on the package, tour operators like Marathon Tours & Travel, Sub3Travel, Travelling Fit and Born2Run can offer runners some combination of a guaranteed bib; a prime hotel room near the start or finish of the race; professional photography and video; group runs; private shuttles to the pre-race exposition and the starting line; course tours; pre-race meals and post-race celebrations.
The treatment is comparable to what a professional athlete might receive, with less pressure on performance. All runners have to do is get themselves from the starting line to the finish line. The tour group will do most of the rest.
For some, it’s become the easiest way to earn a six-star medal, which is given to runners who complete the group of races known as World Marathon Majors, which include the Tokyo (Japan), Boston (United States), London, Berlin, Chicago (US) and New York (US) marathons. This year, the Sydney Marathon in Australia officially became the seventh major marathon.
For a sport that prides itself on requiring “just a pair of shoes”, earning the elusive medal can be remarkably expensive.
“The primary challenge in completing all majors is a financial one, not a running one,” said Edwin Kusters, a 53-year-old runner from Amsterdam, the Netherlands who has completed all the majors.
“There are many runners who could complete them, but far less who can afford them.”
Thousands of participants of the 51st edition of the Berlin Marathon, which was held on Sept 21. — AFP
Marathon Tours & Travel, the official tour operator of the World Marathon Majors and the biggest of the tour groups, has seen an increase in demand in recent years.
Jeff Adams, the president of the company, attributes some of that growth to Covid-19. More people were introduced and reintroduced to running during the pandemic. Many stuck with it and have graduated to the 21km and 42km marathon distance, he said.
In 2019, for example, Marathon Tours & Travel hosted 798 clients, including runners and supporters, for the Berlin Marathon. That number ballooned to 2,159 clients for the 2024 race, some of whom already had their own bibs.
Smaller tour groups are also seeing an uptick. Achim Wricke, CEO of a German marathon travel operator called InterAir, has worked in the industry for 24 years. He said the growth is most pronounced among young cohorts of runners and female participants. He’ll be bringing about 450 runners to the New York City Marathon – the group’s most popular race – on Nov 2.
Is it fair?
It’s unclear if the growing number of spots given to tour operators automatically means fewer spots for time qualifiers, lottery winners or people who meet fundraising or volunteer goals. Adams declined to share how many bibs are designated for Marathon Tours & Travel at each race.
According to organisers of the New York City Marathon, around 14,000 runners travel with a tour operator. Last year, 55,646 runners finished that race.
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events, which operates the London Marathon, the world’s biggest, said in a statement that it is hoping to expand “all categories of entrants to the event”. A record 56,500 runners participated in April’s race, making it the largest marathon ever.
London’s lottery has annually shattered records for the number of people who enter a marathon drawing. The 1.1 million entries for 2026’s race was an increase from last year, when 840,318 people entered.
In 2015, 172,888 people applied to run. The number of finishers has also increased, but not as dramatically. There were 56,640 finishers in 2025 compared with about 37,500 in 2015.
Those numbers made runners like Justin Chan, 50, of Seattle, Washington State, decide to sign up with a tour operator.
“If I just did the lottery, I could potentially never do London,” he said. Chan was working toward completing all the major marathons.
“You never know what could happen tomorrow,” he said. “I could get hit by a bus; I could get cancer. I wanted to be able to do these things.”
So in 2022, he, along with his wife and two children, decided to book a package that would give him a guaranteed bib and four nights at a hotel near the Thames. After looking back at his receipts, his total – without airfare for the whole family – came to US$7,549 (RM31,799).
When asked if he would do it again, he said he would have to “really, really, really” want to.
“It’s not cheap!” he said, “... but it was a great experience.”
Just do it, maybe
The competition for slots is made even tougher by people who keep moving the goalposts on their expectations. “It is no longer just an accomplishment to run all of the majors,” said Lauren Axelrod, who recently earned a six-star medal.
“Now people are trying for all of them in a year or to do all of them more than once. You get a six-star medal each time.”
Adams’ company is happy to oblige. There are more than 14,000 members from more than 110 countries who have signed up to be a part of his company’s “Seven Continent Club”, a VIP group for those hoping to run a marathon on every continent.
But the majors, for now, remain the most elusive.
After all, there are still limited spots available for the 2026 Antarctica Marathon, which his company organises, in March. Next year’s London Marathon package is sold out. – TALYA MINSBERG/©2025 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
