Sydney Marathon 2027 ballot closes 18 October: what UK runners need to know

The ballot for the 2027 TCS Sydney Marathon closes in two weeks. For UK runners the deadline is midnight on Sunday 18 October — that is 10:00 on Monday 19 October in Sydney.

Entering is free and takes a few minutes. The harder question is whether you want a long-haul Major in August, because if your name comes out of the hat, your card is charged automatically. This page covers the deadline in UK time, what it costs if you are drawn, your realistic odds, and what to do if you miss out. Confirm everything on the official 2027 ballot page before you apply.

Photo by Caleb on Unsplash

Key dates in UK time

Sydney moved to daylight saving on 4 October, so the deadline falls exactly at midnight in the UK.

What	Sydney time	UK time
Ballot opened	10:00 AEST, Tuesday 29 September 2026	01:00 BST, Tuesday 29 September
Ballot closes	10:00 AEDT, Monday 19 October	Midnight, Sunday 18 October
Results emailed, cards charged	Tuesday 3 November 2026	Sydney is 11 hours ahead by then, so the email can land on the evening of Monday 2 November
Sydney Mini Marathon (5K)	Saturday 28 August 2027	—
TCS Sydney Marathon	Sunday 29 August 2027	Sydney is nine hours ahead in late August

The organisers ask applicants not to chase results until after 6 November, and emails sometimes land in spam.

How to enter the 2027 ballot

1. Apply on the official ballot page before midnight on 18 October (UK). Choose the international entry if you live outside Australia and New Zealand.
2. Use a card that will still be valid on 3 November. If you are drawn, the entry fee is taken automatically and your place is confirmed by email.
3. Opt in to hear from the travel and charity programmes if you want a fallback. Unsuccessful applicants are emailed alternative ways in on results day.

Three groups should not use the public ballot:

• Runners with a deferred 2025 or 2026 entry. The organisers will contact you after the draw. If you enter the ballot and get drawn, you will be charged, you will not get a refund, and you will lose your deferral (FAQ).
• Duo teams and non-elite racing wheelchair athletes, who have a separate entry process.
• High Performance Program applicants. Those applications have closed; if you are not selected, you are automatically considered in the ballot.

What it costs if you are drawn

The bib is the cheap part. The organisers list AUD 330 for international runners on the ballot page (about £172 at our exchange rate). The Race Roster entry form shows A$340 with the mandatory carbon contribution included, while the FAQ words it as A$340 plus the levy. Budget about £177 to be safe and check the figure shown when you apply. Domestic runners pay A$280–A$285.

What turns a £172 bib into a big trip is the long-haul flight and race-week hotels near the harbour. Our Sydney Marathon trip page uses an indicative £950 return flight and £150 a night.

Scenario	What we are counting	Indicative total
Ballot place, 4 nights	£172 bib + 4 × £150 + £950 flight	About £1,720
Ballot place, 6 nights (proper jet-lag buffer)	£172 bib + 6 × £150 + £950 flight	About £2,020
Charity place, 4 nights	~£75 registration + ~£2,000 pledge + hotel + flight	About £3,600, of which the pledge is fundraised
Official tour package	Whatever the operator quotes	Compare with DIY before you assume it is simpler

Those are calculator defaults, not live quotes. Change the nights and airport on the trip page.

London to Sydney is usually around 22–25 hours with one stop, and Sydney is nine hours ahead in late August. Four nights is the minimum we would plan around. Six lets you sleep off the flight before race day instead of during it.

British Citizen passport holders also need permission to enter Australia. The eVisitor (subclass 651) is free through the Home Affairs website. The ETA through the official app costs an AUD 20 service fee. Avoid third-party sites that charge to “process” either.

Your realistic odds

The organisers reported more than 123,000 applications for the 2026 race — up 56% on the year before, and the most in the event’s history (official announcement). The 2026 field targeted 40,000 finishers.

That does not mean one in three ballot applicants got in. Charity, travel-programme, elite and deferred places all come out of the same field, and the organisers do not publish how many go through the public draw. Sydney ran its first race as a World Marathon Major in 2025, and the organisers say most of the growth came from overseas runners. Nothing suggests 2027 will be easier. Enter, but plan as though the answer is no.

If you are not drawn

Sydney gives unsuccessful applicants two official routes, both of which cost more than a ballot bib.

Charity places. Official charity partners hold guaranteed entries for runners who commit to fundraising. For the 2026 race, most of the 33 UK charities on the international charity page asked for £1,800–£2,500 in fundraising (the full range ran from £1,000 to £3,500), and registration fees ran from nothing to £250, with most between £30 and £100. The 2027 lists will follow, and popular charities fill quickly. The pledge is money you raise or cover yourself — it does not pay for your flight or hotel.

Official travel packages. The travel programme sells guaranteed entries bundled with hotels through 100+ approved operators. Marathon Tours & Travel UK is the lead operator for the UK and Europe. Packages typically bundle three to five nights with transfers and group events. The UK packages we checked do not include flights, and the entry is priced above the ballot fee — one UK operator’s FAQ quotes £299 for the bib when bought with its five-night package. Price the package against your own flights to Sydney and harbour hotels before you pay for certainty.

We do not sell packages. The trip page exists so you can check whether a quote is fair.

Entering more than one Major ballot this autumn

Three Majors are taking applications at the same time:

Race	Race date	Applications close	Results
Sydney	Sunday 29 August 2027	Midnight 18 October (UK)	3 November 2026
Chicago	Sunday 10 October 2027	19:00 UK, 29 October	8 December 2026
Berlin	Sunday 26 September 2027	12 November	3 December 2026

Sydney and Berlin both charge automatically if you are drawn, so entering all three can mean paying for more than one. Sydney and Berlin are four weeks apart. Sydney and Chicago are six weeks apart, and both are long-haul trips. Decide now which pair you would actually run, and only enter those ballots.

Weighing up all eight? World Marathon Majors trip costs compared ranks them by indicative UK cost. The eight Majors UK guide explains why Sydney counts as a Major but not towards the Six Star medal.

Before you press submit

Do not book anything yet. A non-refundable flight to Sydney bought in October is a bet on a draw with long odds. Wait for 3 November.

Check you can take the time off. The race falls on the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, which helps, but with 22-plus hours of travel each way, a sensible trip is still the best part of a week.

Know your fallback. If you will only go with a ballot place, enter and forget it until November. If you want to run in 2027 regardless, look at charity and travel options now rather than after results day, when thousands of other unsuccessful applicants do the same.

What to do next

1. Enter the ballot on tcssydneymarathon.com before midnight on Sunday 18 October (UK).
2. Watch your inbox on 2–3 November, including spam.
3. Drawn? Open the Sydney Marathon trip page, set your nights, compare flights into Sydney (SYD), and book a free-cancellation hotel near Circular Quay or The Rocks while race-week stock is still good.