The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Subscribe today to get the latest headlines straight to your inbox with our free email updates Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Thousands of runners are taking to the streets of London today for the 39th London Marathon. More runners than ever before have entered the country's biggest annual fundraiser. And for those of you that have decided you fancy a slice of the action next year, details about the 2020 event have now been released. The ballot for next year's event is now open - and it's the first time that the ballot system has opened on the day of the marathon. We've compiled a list of everything you need to know about when it will take place and how you can enter. Watch below: Running tips for beginners Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now When is the London Marathon in 2020? The 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon will take place on Sunday, April 26. How do I enter? The public ballot online entry system for the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon is now open, but only for a week. The ballot will close at 5pm on Friday, May 3. All those who enter the ballot will find out whether or not they have been successful by the end of October. Both international and UK residents can enter but you need to select which on the entry page. To apply, visit the website. How many apply and how many are successful? For the 2019 marathon, 444,168 people applied in the ballot for a place- that's 7.3 per cent more than the year before. Of those 400,000 odd, a total of 56,398 applicants were successful. How is the ballot drawn? It is a totally random ballot with no weighting - just like the draw for the National Lottery. How much does it cost? UK standard entry into the ballot costs £39, or £35 if you are a member of a UK-affiliated running club. Cost of overseas entry is £80. (Image: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) When do I pay? All applicants who have been successful in the ballot and offered a provisional place in the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon will be sent a link to pay the entry fee. Can children enter? If you are under 18 you can apply, but you must be 18 years old or over on race day to run the London Marathon. Download the CoventryLive app Click here for iPhone and here for Android Visit our Facebook pages for Coventry and Nuneaton or visit our Twitter pages for Coventry and Nuneaton Watch our videos on YouTube and see our photos on Instagram Find old stories in our online Archives and search for jobs, motors and property, or place an advert or family notice here<doc-sep>The London Marathon aims to be waste-free by 2020. This year, the race will work toward that goal by giving runners biodegradable seaweed pods instead of single-use cups at one aid station. Other aid stations on the course will give runners compostable cups. This will be the largest trial of the Ooho! plastic-bottle alternative, according to race officials. After the athletes cross the finish and excitement of any marathon has died down, what’s left is an aftermath of waste. Bottles and cups litter the course, raising questions about the environmental impact of the bottles and cups used for hydration and left tossed to the side. This year, London Marathon officials are implementing measures to cut down on this waste—something they hope to expand upon in the future. They have a goal of zero waste by 2020, so a lot of changes will be made. And it will start with runners eating their water bottles. Watch: Eliud Kipchoge, Brigid Kosgei win 2019 London Marathon. Yep, eating their water bottles. But it’s not as gross as it sounds: Runners will be provided with seaweed capsules full of Lucozade Sport, an electrolyte drink, in place of bottles. The Ooho! 30mL capsules, produced by tech startup Skipping Rocks Lab in London, can be bitten into to release the liquid. Then, the capsules themselves can be eaten or spit out, since they are biodegradable. Though this is not the first time runners have been provided with seaweed capsules instead of single-use cups, this will be the largest trial of the Ooho! capsules, according to race officials. The seaweed capsules filled with Lucozade Sport will be provided at mile 23. There will be more than 30,000 edible Ooho seaweed capsules, which are biodegradable in four to six weeks if you are a little wary of eating them, according to Lucozade Sport. Additionally, three Lucozade Sport stations will use compostable cups. This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. How do the Ooho capsules work? You pop the pod, which will be handed out by volunteers in gloves, in your mouth against your cheek and bite down. It is similar to eating a cherry tomato, an article on the Lucozade Sport website explains. Marathon officials have also announced other steps to help reduce waste, like scaling down to 19 drink stations from 26. That will help cut down on 215,000 plastic bottles on the course. [Blast through a series of HIIT sessions to boost running strength and prevent injury with the IronStrength Workout .] Additionally, the marathon has committed to ensuring zero waste to landfills by 2020, and is implementing other sustainable measures, like delivering digital-only race instructions and registration materials, instituting a trial to track how much water runners use over the course of the race, and introducing drop zones for runners to ditch their bottles to help with cleanup and ensure all bottles are recycled. Other races, like the Xiamen Marathon and the Harrow Half Marathon have already gone plastic-free. “We are passionate about the concept of Eliminate, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and are fully committed to reducing our environmental impact. We believe we run the best mass participation events in the world, and we want to match that by leading the world in mass participation event sustainability,” event director Hugh Brasher said in a release. Jordan Smith Digital Editor Jordan Smith is a writer and editor with over 5 years of experience reporting on health and fitness news and trends. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>
THERE are very few greater feats of endurance than completing a marathon. Every year thousands of people from around the world head to the capital for the annual London Marathon. 2 Every year thousands of runners flock to the capital Credit: Alamy Live News And if you've been inspired by the sight of the runners this year, in 2020 you could be one of them. How can I apply? THE marathon is a hugely popular event and almost always ends up over-subscribed. For the 2018 race, more than 400,00 people applied for the 17,500 spaces available. To have a chance at being one of them in 2020, you need to head over to the official London Marathon website and apply using the ballot, which will open shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 race. An exact date hasn't yet been confirmed - but for this year's event, the ballot opened on May 6, 2018. It's free to enter into the ballot, with applicants told in October whether they have been successful or not - if you have, there is an entry fee of around £35 for club affiliated runners and £39 for non-club affiliated runners to pay. All applicants to the ballot must be aged 18 or over. 2 The race finishes with a dash down The Mall by Buckingham Palace Credit: Action Images via Reuters What happens if I miss out on the ballot? IF you miss out on a place, there are other ways in which you can take part. You can try and apply using a charity entry for the 2020 race. Most major charities have a set number of places reserved for them each year and allocate these to runners on the basis that they will raise an agreed amount of money. You'll need to contact your chosen charity directly to see if they've got any places to offer you. To see a list of charities most likely to be involved, head over to this list on the London Marathon website. Otherwise, you'll have to be a gifted athlete, but you can also try the Good For Age Entry. These are spots reserved for 6,000 people and are open to both men and women who have run marathons in the allocated times listed here. SPORT LATEST CRYING BRU Fernandes breaks down in tears as Scholes slams Utd stars who 'accept losing' Revealed FLOP GEA De Gea let in 38th CONSECUTIVE penalty before missing own spot-kick in shootout Live Blog MAN UTD 1 (10) VILLARREAL 1 (11) Penalties heartbreak for United as De Gea misses in epic Exclusive THREE-PEAT De Bruyne has been nursing THREE injuries in build-up to Champions League final MAN UTD VERDICT Solskjaer blew chance to end trophy drought & it won't get easier than this Live Blog FOOTBALL NEWS LIVE Zidane QUITS Real Madrid, Antonio Conte leaves Inter Milan When is London Marathon 2020? THERE's yet to be a concrete date set for next year's event. But traditionally the marathon is held on one of the final two Sunday's in April. This year it is being held on Sunday, April 28.