The autumn marathons are over. If New York or Berlin left you wanting another one, or if watching them made you want a first one, the next question is practical: which spring race, and when does the training start?
The second answer is easier than it looks. A 16-week marathon plan ends on race Sunday, so week 1 begins 111 days earlier, always on a Monday. For most spring races that Monday is in December or January, which is sooner than people expect and exactly why spring marathons go wrong: the plan should have started before the Christmas tree went up.
Here are thirteen spring marathons worth training for, what you can still enter, and the Monday your plan starts.
The calendar
Race dates are from the organisers’ websites as of mid-October 2026. “Plan starts” is the Monday of week 1 for a 16-week marathon plan; the last column is the same for a 12-week half-marathon plan, since every race below has a half on the same weekend or nearby.
| Race | Date | Entry status, mid-October 2026 | 16-week plan starts | 12-week half plan starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | Sun 7 Mar | Lottery closed; results went out in September | Mon 16 Nov 2026 | Mon 14 Dec 2026 |
| Barcelona | Sun 14 Mar | Open | Mon 23 Nov 2026 | Mon 21 Dec 2026 |
| Paris | Sun 4 Apr | Lottery closed; official bib resale opens 1 Dec; charity and tour-operator places | Mon 14 Dec 2026 | Mon 11 Jan 2027 |
| Rotterdam | Sun 11 Apr | Check the organiser; usually a draw in the autumn | Mon 21 Dec 2026 | Mon 18 Jan 2027 |
| Vienna | Sun 18 Apr | Sold out; waiting list open | Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Mon 25 Jan 2027 |
| Manchester | Sun 18 Apr | Check the organiser | Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Mon 25 Jan 2027 |
| Boston | Mon 19 Apr | Qualifiers accepted in September; charity places | Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Mon 25 Jan 2027 |
| London | Sat 24 + Sun 25 Apr | Ballot closed; Good For Age closed 29 Oct; charity places | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Mon 1 Feb 2027 |
| Hamburg | Sun 25 Apr | Sold out (20,000 places) | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Mon 1 Feb 2027 |
| Prague | Sun 2 May | Check the organiser | Mon 11 Jan 2027 | Mon 8 Feb 2027 |
| Copenhagen | Sun 9 May | Draw; more than 80,000 apply, so check the result date | Mon 18 Jan 2027 | Mon 15 Feb 2027 |
| Cape Town | Sun 23 May | Lottery closed; charity and tour-operator places | Mon 1 Feb 2027 | Mon 1 Mar 2027 |
| Edinburgh | Sun 30 May | Open | Mon 8 Feb 2027 | Mon 8 Mar 2027 |
Boston is a Monday race, so its plan ends on the Sunday before. For London, the men’s Good For Age field runs on the Saturday; a Saturday plan ends a day early and nothing else changes.
Four of the five Majors in this list (Tokyo, Boston, London, Cape Town) are already decided for 2027, and we covered the remaining routes in how to get into a Major in 2027. The practical spring choices for most people are the ones with open entry or a December resale: Barcelona, Paris via the resale, Edinburgh, and the mid-sized European races below.
Which one?
A few honest notes on the races that are still gettable:
- Barcelona (14 March) is flat, warm-ish and early, which means the long runs happen in December and January. A good choice if you’re already fit from an autumn race and want to keep going. The plan starts in three weeks.
- Paris (4 April) is the 50th edition and the first under a new organiser. The lottery is closed, but the official bib resale on 1 December is the real second chance, and the charity route needs only a modest fundraising minimum by Major standards. Beautiful, big, slightly hillier than it looks.
- Rotterdam (11 April) is the fastest course in this list and the one experienced runners pick for a time. Entry is by draw in most years; if you’re not in, the Rotterdam half is easier to get into.
- Manchester (18 April) is the UK’s flat big-city marathon and the usual alternative for people without a London place. Check the organiser’s site for the current entry status.
- Prague (2 May) and Copenhagen (9 May) are the late options: cobbles and bridges in Prague, dead flat in Copenhagen. Both push the plan start into mid-January, which is the gentlest schedule in the list.
- Edinburgh (30 May) is the last spring marathon in Europe worth the name, a fast point-to-point along the coast, and it’s open now. The plan starts on 8 February, so you can let December be December.
If this is your first marathon, the earlier races are the harder choice, not because of the course but because the training falls in the darkest, coldest weeks. For a first one, May is kinder.
What the sixteen weeks look like
The marathon plans in iRunning (Marathon, for a first one, and Sub-4 Marathon, for a time) are both 16 weeks, four runs a week, with a long run that grows from 12 to about 26 km and a three-week taper. The first-marathon plan guide walks through it week by week. For a half, the 12-week half marathon plan does the same job in less time.
The thing the table doesn’t show is what comes before week 1. A 16-week plan assumes you can run about 30 km a week and have finished a half marathon. If you’re not there yet, the weeks between now and your Monday are for getting there: easy running, a long run that grows slowly, and nothing heroic. Our winter running guide covers how to keep that going through the dark months.
Putting the Monday in your calendar
Three things to do this week, whichever race you pick:
- Enter, or get on the list. The open races close when they’re full, and the resale and waiting lists move in December. Decide now.
- Put the Monday in your calendar and work backwards: a long run every weekend from then on, a protected slot for it, and a race entry that makes it real.
- Start the plan on that Monday, not the week after. In the app, pick the plan, choose your start day, and it shows the Sunday you finish. If the Sunday is race day, you’re set. If it’s a week late, you’ve found the most common spring marathon mistake while there’s still time to fix it.
And if the Monday has already passed by the time you read this, start now. Sixteen weeks is the design, not the law; fifteen is fine, and the taper still works.
Race dates and entry details are from the organisers’ websites as of 14 October 2026. Entry windows change quickly in the autumn; check the official site before you plan around one.
