In an event as big as the London Marathon, with around 40,000 runners taking part, start times become complicated. Getting that many people across the start line in an orderly fashion involves a system of staggered waves based on your predicted time, and you’ll need to do some planning to ensure that all that time spent marathon training isn’t undermined by missing your starting slot.
What time does the London Marathon start?
The exact information on your start time is found in the email sent by the race organizers, which should have landed in your inbox over the past few days. Along with your time, the email contains info on the color of your start zone, your wave number, when you should arrive in your start zone, and the best station to get there. These will be laid out like the below, taken from my email:
START COLOUR: Blue
NEAREST STATION: Blackheath
WAVE NUMBER: CHAMPS
ARRIVAL TIME: 08:32
START TIME: 10:00 - 10:01
The email also contains your bib number, and a link to the London Marathon 2024 event guide, which includes info like a map of the starting area in Greenwich Park. The details on your start time will also be available in the London Marathon tracker app when that launches.
For the mass participation event, the first runners start at around 10am and the last runners usually begin at 11.30am. The elite wheelchair and women’s race usually starts well before the masses, while the men’s elite race sets off just before the Championship runners begin.
