We all know that running an Abbott World Marathon Major is no easy task. I think the actual running portion of your experience might be the easy part! Gaining entry into a World Marathon Major is the hard part! There are various ways to run the Marathon Majors: lottery/ballot, charity entry, time qualification and tour operators. We are 3 months into 2019 already. The New York City Marathon lottery results were released last month. Unless you have already secured a spot into the 2019 Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago or NYC Marathon (or you plan to run for charity), your chances of running a 2019 race have passed. Most of us runners plan well in advance our upcoming races, and if we are planning on running one of the Marathon Majors, we need to plan way ahead of time.

I have tried my best to find the race dates for the year 2020. The lottery periods are not official, so please refer to each individual race website for more details. I will update this post as soon as those dates are finalized and as soon as I have more information. But mark this post, and refer back to it if you're interested in running a WMM in 2020. Again, the following dates are TENTATIVE or NOT CONFIRMED (except Tokyo & Boston). They are subject to change. Please note: This post is not a direct reflection of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. I did my own research for this with online searches and inquiries with race officials. This is not inside information and is subject to change.

See my previous post: How to Get Into An Abbott World Marathon Majors and How I Ran Each Abbott World Marathon Major

Below is an overview of the tentative race dates, sign-up/entry period and cost of each race. Once race dates are confirmed, I will update this chart.

TOKYO MARATHON: SUNDAY, MARCH 1ST 2020

NEW FOR 2019. In years past, the Tokyo Marathon was always held on the last Sunday in February. The Tokyo Marathon has announced the race date for 2020 to be on March 1st, 2020. This is confirmed. They have announced it will be the first Sunday in March.

Lottery period: The lottery period will take place on August 1st, 2019 for general entry. Those running through charity can enter July 1st, 2019.   

Runners have been notified the 3rd week of September in the past. No dates have been confirmed on when runners will be notified of the results.

For more information, please refer to the Tokyo Marathon website. 

BOSTON MARATHON: MONDAY APRIL 20th 2020

Register: Registration period most likely (not confirmed) will take place on September 9th, 2019 and admissions is rolling. For more information on their entry process for time qualified runners, please visit the Boston Marathon website.

Here is a chart with the 2020 Updated men’s and women’s qualifying standards.

Receive email updates from the Boston Marathon: here

Read my popular blog article: 10 Things I Did to Qualify for the Boston Marathon

LONDON MARATHON: SUNDAY APRIL 26TH 2020 (Unofficial)

Lottery period: Most likely it will take place the last week of April (right after the 2019 race) and may last for 5 days. Race date will be announced when the ballot (lottery) opens on April 28, 2019.

Runners have been notified of the results the first week of October in the past.

Sign up for the London Marathon newsletter here

BERLIN MARATHON: SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH 2020

This is not confirmed

Lottery period: Last year the lottery period was held the middle of October and went to the first week of November.

Runners were notified: end of November – beginning of December.

Sign up for the Berlin Marathon newsletter here

For recommendations if you’re running the Berlin Marathon this year, read Eat. Sleep. Run: Berlin. This is my post on where to eat, sleep, run and play in Berlin while you’re visiting for the marathon.

CHICAGO MARATHON: OCTOBER 11TH 2020 (Tentative)

Lottery period: October - November 

Last year the lottery took place: End of October (after the race) to the end of November.

Runners have been notified: second week in December

Sign up for the Chicago Marathon newsletter: here

Check out my Chicago Marathon post: The Best of Chicago if you’re making plans to run Chicago in the future.

NEW YORK CITY MARATHON: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1st 2020 (Tentative)

Lottery period: January (middle) - February (middle)

This year the lottery took place from: January 14 - February 14, 2019 for the 2019 race

Runners have been notified the end of February.

For notifications on the NYC Marathon and other NYRR events, sign up for an account: here

CONCLUSION

I will do my best to update this post with accurate dates when they are available. Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, on social media I will post updates when application periods for these races open. So follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and I will post when race application periods are open. I also will email updates if you subscribe to my blog. 

Good luck with the 2019 and 2020 races and sign-up periods!

-Jill M