The London Marathon isn’t a single, dramatic starting gun—it’s a gentle, rolling cascade. With over 40,000 runners, wave starts prevent a catastrophic bottleneck at the start line. Think of it as the world’s most athletic, coordinated conga line.
Your wave is determined by your predicted finish time, submitted during registration. Elite athletes and the fastest age-group runners kick things off in the Red Start around 9:00 AM. For the rest of us—the mortals, the fundraisers, the fancy-dress flamingos—things get a little more relaxed.
For 2026, expect the same efficient system: Wave 1 (the speedy) launches around 9:05 AM, with subsequent waves every few minutes until around 10:30 AM. Your colour-coded number tells you everything, so don’t lose it—or the Wi-Fi signal.
The Art of the Pre-Race Waiting Game
Here’s the cultural secret: the waiting area is a festival of nervous energy. You’ll see people doing last-minute stretches, eating cold bagels, and making friends with strangers over shared loo queue trauma. It’s oddly beautiful.
If you’re in a later wave, don’t just stand there shivering. Bring a cheap hoodie you can discard at the start line (it gets donated to charity). This is a quintessential London Marathon life hack, and it makes you feel like a professional.
Fun fact: the first London Marathon in 1981 had 7,747 runners. In 2026, you’ll be part of a massive, rolling human river that takes nearly an hour to pass the start line. That’s a lot of power gels and good intentions.
