Paris Marathon 2027 will allocate race entries by lottery

This is a major change for France’s biggest road race. According to information from our colleagues at Ouest-France that we can confirm this Tuesday, the Paris Marathon is abandoning its “first come, first served” system, with its tiered pricing, in favour of a lottery open for several weeks. Applicants will enter the draw, and the successful runners will be notified several months before race day. The change radically alters the runner experience: there is no longer any need to watch the exact moment entries open or rush to your computer. In Paris, speed will no longer necessarily be rewarded with a race entry. Luck will.

The Paris Marathon follows the biggest names in the sport

While the process amounts to a small revolution in France, it is already well established at the world’s biggest marathons. New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo all use lottery systems for some of their race entries. Seven of the eight World Marathon Majors use the same approach.

With 57,464 finishers last year, the Paris Marathon is also facing huge demand. Moving to a lottery therefore marks the race’s entry into a new dimension: that of the world’s major marathons, where a race entry has become a scarce commodity. The Paris Half Marathon, scheduled for March, will also adopt the new system.

The precise lottery rules and future entry fees have yet to be announced. But one thing is already certain: to run through the streets of the capital in 2027, you will need to train your legs… and cross your fingers. More details are expected at the press conference scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, in Paris.

After nearly three decades under the Amaury Sport Organisation banner, the Paris Marathon has a new organiser. The Paris City Council has awarded the Cadence consortium the concession to stage the 2027 to 2030 editions. It is a historic break for one of the biggest road races on the planet, opening a new era for the event.