New Balance has used the Wednesday opening of the TCS London Marathon Running Show at ExCeL to restock its headline 2026 official kit collection, and will follow up on Thursday by unlocking the biggest brand activation of the marathon weekend: a four-day community space at Somerset House called London Run House. The Boston-based brand, the event's official apparel partner since 2022, first released its 2026 London Marathon range online and at its Oxford Street flagship on Sunday 1 March. The high-volume restock at ExCeL has turned the expo's central concourse into a queue of runners buying a neon-yellow and hot-pink collection that has already become the visual signature of this year's race.
The anchor piece is the London Edition Marathon Jacket, a re-interpretation of New Balance's 1978 "Windcheater" original, the featherweight nylon pullover that was worn by many of the inaugural London Marathon field in 1981. The 2026 version has been re-cut in a relaxed double-layer construction with water- and wind-resistant panels, generous zip pockets and a drop-tail hem. At £140 it sits at the top of the collection's price ladder, but its retro-inspired graphic print — a stylised overlay of the 26.2-mile course routed through 32 London boroughs — has made it the item selling fastest at ExCeL. New Balance staff confirmed at lunchtime on Wednesday that the all-black colourway had sold out across men's and women's cuts inside the first hour of opening. The collection is rounded out by the London Edition RC Essential Printed T-Shirt (£40), super-short running shorts with a built-in brief (£65), crew-length socks in black or "afterglow" neon (£18) and a six-panel running cap (£30).
The footwear in the collection is built for two distinct audiences. The Fresh Foam X 1080v15 2026 TCS London Marathon Edition, in the signature afterglow and hot-pink colourway, is pitched at the bulk of the 59,000-strong Sunday field as a cushioned daily-trainer option that can handle the back half of a marathon. The FuelCell SC Elite V5, also in the London Marathon colourway, is aimed at the sub-3-hour field and uses New Balance's latest PEBA supercritical-foam midsole with a carbon fibre plate and a stack height just under the World Athletics 40-millimetre limit. Both shoes are priced at retail parity with their standard colourways (£160 and £250 respectively), an intentional move by New Balance to avoid the premium that several competitors place on their marathon-edition shoes.
Away from ExCeL, the bigger story for the brand this week is London Run House. Opening on Thursday 23 April and running until the early hours of Monday 27 April, the space occupies the East Wing of Somerset House on the Strand — directly on the marathon route between miles 24 and 25. Over the four days, the Run House hosts more than 40 free community activities, including guided shakeout runs in partnership with Runner's Need and Adidas Runners, "pre-run" and "after-run" breathwork sessions led by Wim Hof Method instructors, a dedicated TCS London Marathon expo micro-space for last-minute kit, and, on race afternoon, a finishers' recovery lounge featuring on-site physiotherapy from Pure Sports Medicine and free ice-bath access. Attendance is ticketed and free, and organisers reported on Tuesday that Saturday's Mini London Marathon watch party had already been waitlisted.
The broader picture is one of New Balance treating London as its most important running activation of the year. The brand's top-to-tail team — including World Marathon Majors PR lead Sarah Halpin and footwear category lead Ben Pierce — flew into London on Monday and will be based at the Run House through the weekend to oversee the launch of two shoes timed to race day: the FuelCell Rebel v5, which will be released to the public on Thursday, and a first UK look at the FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3, due later in the summer. Members of the New Balance London Edge professional team, including 2025 London Marathon eighth-place finisher Eilish McColgan (racing Sunday in the elite women's field) and distance runner Emile Cairess, will host meet-and-greets at Somerset House on Friday and Saturday afternoons. For a brand that sponsors the event itself, the sprinter Gabby Thomas and the half-marathon World Record holder Jacob Kiplimo (who races Sunday in competitor apparel only), race week is as much a four-day retail phenomenon as it is a marathon.