A world‑record 59,000 people will take part in Sunday’s London Marathon, and Sophie Raworth — training for her 13th race — says the start line already feels different. "I met with a group by a bike shop near the River Thames," she told reporters as she prepared to run.
The scale is startling: organisers expect the event to raise close to £100m for charity and forecast that competitors will swallow 93,024 Lucozade gels between Greenwich and the Mall. More than 1.1 million people entered this year’s ballot — 750,000 more than four years ago — and a third of those ballot entrants sat in the 18‑29 category, with female entrants making up the biggest percentage of that under‑30 group.
Raworth, who began training in January 2026, described a first run with a new club that felt like a phenomenon. "The first run we went on, 220 people turned up. The average age was 29 and most of them were women. It was 7.45am on a Sunday morning. I was thinking to myself: when I was that age I was still asleep. It’s amazing." Her experience tracks with an explosion of new groups and online coaching services aimed at younger runners and women.
One visible organiser is Jenny Mannion, who founded the female‑running group Runners and Stunners in 2023 and now holds regular events for slower‑paced joggers in London, Bristol, Brighton and Manchester. Mannion said the culture of social life has shifted: "I used to be such a party girl pre-lockdown," she said, and added, "Instead of finding human connection by going to the pub they are choosing to run." She also credited social platforms for amplifying the change: "All this has also exploded massively because of social media." Mannion emphasised the social lift the groups give: "It’s also so empowering to run in a group of 200 women on a Saturday morning."
Lillie Bleasdale, who runs the online female coaching company Passa, echoed that the new scene is about safety and retention. "Women are actively seeking out spaces where they feel comfortable and safe – when that environment is provided, they don’t just participate, they stay and bring others with them," she said. Bleasdale added that "Word of mouth has been a huge driver of our growth" and that "For many women, feeling safe and supported is fundamental to staying consistent with exercise - and that’s something these groups are increasingly prioritising."
The numbers show why organisers are having to think hard about capacity. With more than a million people applying for places this year and a record field due to line up on Sunday, race officials have announced plans to split the London Marathon over two days in 2027 so that 100,000 people can take part. The two‑day plan is an explicit response to demand and to the boom in participation driven by gen Z, women and the spread of club culture on social media.
That creates a tension: the marathon has become a mass participatory spectacle that feeds fundraising and national attention, yet the boom is rooted in smaller, peer‑led communities that prize safety, support and social connection. The event will be the biggest yet on Sunday, but organisers and community leaders face a choice about what growth looks like — more places on the start line or more of the intimate groups that brought many people into running.
Sunday’s race will deliver the headline numbers — 59,000 runners, nearly £100m for charity and thousands of small groups converging on the capital — but the harder decision lies ahead. If organisers expand to 100,000 across two days, can the marathon keep the grassroots energy and the safe, women‑centred spaces that helped create the surge, or will massification dilute the very thing that drew so many to the sport?
Sophie Raworth will be among those on the course and has already been struck by the change. Her early‑morning run with strangers who turned into a crowd and a community is the human beat behind the statistics: a new generation of runners has arrived at the race, and how the London Marathon responds will decide whether they stay.
