Home Articles KBC Dublin Marathon Expands to Record 25,000 Entries

KBC Dublin Marathon Expands to Record 25,000 Entries

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Photo Credit Dublin Marathon

The KBC Dublin Marathon race organisers have today announced that there will be a record 25,000 entries for the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon. This represents an increase of 2,500 from the 22,500 entries available in 2019.

The new lottery system has revealed that there are over 35,000 interested in participating in the 2020 event. 16,200 entries have been received from runners who had participated in any of the 2017, 2018 & 2019 editions of the event, who were guaranteed a place in the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon. 1,000 entries are allocated to sponsors and tour operators, with a further 1,300 to “Good for Age” Athletics Ireland membership in addition to the 16,100 lottery applications bringing the overall estimated demand to 35,000. 6,500 successful lottery applicants will today (Friday 10th January) receive their code and will have until 31st January to claim their entry with a second round of allocations in February.

KBC Dublin Marathon Race Director, Jim Aughney commented: “A key objective from the outset of the Dublin Marathon Board, who are volunteers was to promote marathon running in Ireland and it is great to see such strong interest in this year’s event.”

He added: “We know that there will be many runners disappointed today, but we cannot accommodate all interested individuals as we pride ourselves on delivering a quality event as the health and safety of participants is our primary concern. However, given that we now have an indication of the overall interest levels in participation this will allow us to have meaningful conversations with our many stakeholders around the future and further development of the KBC Dublin Marathon.”

Lottery Entries

The remaining 6,500 available entries to the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon have this year for the first time been determined by a lottery system. There were 16,100 lottery applications in total. The key lottery dates are below.

10th January – Round 1: Registrants will learn via email or SMS whether they were successful or unsuccessful.

31st January – Deadline 1: Deadline for successful lottery registrants from round one to redeem their entry.

7th February – Round 2: Any unclaimed places from round one will be re-allocated to lottery registrants.

14th February – Deadline 2: Deadline for successful lottery registrants from round two to redeem their entry.

1st August – Round 3: Any unallocated numbers from refunds to be offered to any unsuccessful lottery applicants.

14th August – Deadline 3: Deadline for successful lottery registrants to redeem their entry.

Lottery Process

All unsuccessful lottery applicants will receive a refund of their €15 after 14th February. An option to allow 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon entrants to claim a refund will be made available in July. A refund of 70% of the entry fee will be returned once the refund application has been accepted. Any unallocated entries (such as refunded numbers) will be offered to any unsuccessful lottery applicants on 1st August with offers needing to be redeemed by 15th August.

Guaranteed Entries

A guaranteed entry to the 2020 KBC Dublin Marathon was offered in November 2019 to runners who had participated in any of the 2019, 2018 or 2017 editions of the Dublin Marathon. 16,200 of these previous participants have availed of this offer to secure their 2020 entry. A further 1,300 entries are allocated to Athletics Ireland membership, as the race also serves as the Athletics Ireland National Marathon Championships.

Looking to the Future

A significant factor in the move to the lottery system for this year’s race, in addition to the increasing demand experienced in recent years, was to enable the race organisers gauge the total level of interest in participation in the KBC Dublin Marathon allowing them to plan for the future development of the event in consultation with the event’s multiple stakeholders.

The total number of guaranteed entries claimed by previous participants as well as the significant number of applications for the lottery indicate that there are some 35,000 people interested in participating in the KBC Dublin Marathon. This represents phenomenal growth from the 2,100 people that lined up at the start of the very first Dublin Marathon in 1980.