Championship vs Good for Age - Spring Marathon

Puffin Along

24/09/2002 at 16:31

Help!!
Can anyone advise me how I should apply for next years London marathon. I did this years in 3:11:43 on a good for age place.I have improved a lot since then and hope to get close if not under (by seconds!!)the 3hrs next year. Reading through the application form it appears I should apply for a championship place but I do not belong to a Club and it appears to my reading that i am therefore ineligable. I can't join any local club cos work clashes with club nights etc . I've written to FLM but had no reply and closing date is approaching for godd for age places.Any ideas?

Annie Mole

24/09/2002 at 17:26

You are definitely Good for age and you don't need to belong to club for this Good for Age rule to apply.

Write to them by 18TH OCTOBER 2002 with your proof of performance - which must have been achieved in 2001 or 2002, and your age. Once they have checked this if you are accepted they'll send you a guranteed entry form and then you have to pay the standard entry fee.

You need to write to:

Good for Age
Flora London Marathon
PO Box 3460
London
SE1 8YN

All the best

My Guide to Entering the London Marathon.

Ironman

25/09/2002 at 11:46

Puffin,

Looking at your real name, I assume you are a woman. Therefore you are eligable for a championship place. The good news for this is that applications do not close until December 27th.

I would be suprised if you had to be a member of a club to get a championship place - I may be wrong. But if you wanted to start with the elite then you could just pay your membership fees to a club and then do it anyway. Why not contact the London Marathon helpline to check the situation.

By the way, don't apply for a good for age if you are going for a championship place as this invalidates your entry.

If I had the chance to start at the front I would certainly take it!

Gareth

Puffin Along

01/10/2002 at 14:22

Thanks Annie and Ironman.
I heard back from FLM ; in order to apply for championship place you MUST be a member of a running club.Looks like it will be a good for age place after all which is probably better as I hope to run with some guys from local club (that sounds daft as I can not commit to joining them on regular basis doesn't it!!)hopefully we will all end up at same start or I can find them amongst the milling masses enroute.

Hilly

01/10/2002 at 14:38

Puffin could you not join the club and just go to club nights when you can? That way you would get to start with the Elites and also have the benefit of cheaper entry fees in other races.

Monique

pirate

04/10/2002 at 13:21

I started on the elite start last year and can thoroughly recommend it, you get all the support with none of the jostling. Join that club! The toilets are loads better with no queues, felt like a bit of a carthorse next to some of the gazelles you get there though!

Puffin Along

04/10/2002 at 14:05

OK OK I get the hint. I sent an application for the Road Runners Club off yesterday still thinking re local club;work and family commitments are the problem but I am weakening!! So gazelles move over another carthorse is on the scene!

Monique

pirate

04/10/2002 at 14:36

Fantastic I'll see you there, make sure you join a club with a black kit, I did it's very slimming!

jock12

05/10/2002 at 22:46

I`ve run with fast for age and elite,just like Monique,I would`nt say theres no queues for the toilets, but the start is definately better,I understand where you are comming from Puffin,my nearest running club was 20 miles away in Exeter,so I used to belong to the AAA running club,but when it ended I joined the South West Road Runners ,I could`nt always get there for club nights ,but I would meet club members at races, and made some terrific friends,also you get the chance to run in championship races,like the English X country championships and county championships, so go for it Puffin, the better the runner you run against, the better you will become

K and K

06/10/2002 at 15:22

It's definitely worth joining a club to get on the elite championship start Puffin. It's absolutely inspirational being on that start, you have everything going for you, no toilet queue being the best, but no bottlenecks, no problems getting drinks and the crowds making you feel as though you are winning, you also get to see some of the men's race as they come flying past.
Really really good.
Hope to see you there.
Kathy

tigerrunner

08/10/2002 at 08:59

Puffin,
just to varify what people have already said about the best for age start. I have started there for the last two years and its great. Your up and running right away, which counts for an awful lot when you are hoping to break 3hrs by seconds. Then theres the other bonus you get to rub shoulders with the VIP runners. (if you like that sort of thing! )Best of luck.

Exmoor Fred

12/10/2002 at 18:40

Regarding this GFA. I have recieved from the FLM the times needed for GFA. Is it correct that a man of 59 who runs 3:14 is in the same GFA as a man of twenty who does the same time? If this is so, is that not a touch unfair?

We'd love you to add a comment! Please login or take half a minute to register as a free member