The Paris Marathon is abandoning first-come, first-served registration. From the 2027 edition, expected in April, places will be allocated by a draw open for several weeks rather than the online rush that has decided entry for years, according to a report in Ouest-France on Tuesday that was subsequently confirmed by Stadion. Applicants will register their interest during a fixed window and successful entrants will be notified several months before the race. The Paris Half Marathon in March is to move to the same system.
The change accompanies a change of ownership. After nearly three decades under Amaury Sport Organisation, the company behind the Tour de France, the concession for the marathon was awarded by the Paris council to Cadence Running United for the 2027 to 2030 editions. A lottery is one of the first visible signs of the new organiser's approach, and it removes the sliding-scale pricing that ASO used, under which entry fees rose as the field filled. The precise mechanics, the number of places on offer and the new price structure have not yet been published, and Cadence has scheduled a press conference in Paris for Tuesday 8 September to set them out.
Demand justifies the move. The 2026 race drew 59,000 participants and recorded 57,464 finishers, and the event has sold out in a matter of hours in recent years. Seven of the eight Abbott World Marathon Majors allocate at least part of their fields by ballot, and this year has produced record demand almost everywhere that system operates: London received 1.34 million applications for 2027, and New York's 50th anniversary race set a new lottery record. Paris, which sits just below the Majors in size and prestige, has effectively conceded that its bib has become a scarce commodity of the same kind.
For runners the practical consequences are mixed. A draw ends the need to be at a keyboard at the moment registration opens and removes the advantage held by those with fast connections and flexible working hours. It also introduces uncertainty into spring planning: a runner who has built a training block around Paris may not learn until the autumn whether they have a place, and those who miss out will be looking at Rotterdam, Hamburg, Vienna or the smaller French city marathons as alternatives. Charity entries, tour operator allocations and any qualifying-time route, if one is introduced, will determine how many places are actually left for the general draw.
There is also a broader signal in the decision. Mass-participation marathon demand in Europe has outgrown the capacity of its biggest city courses, and organisers are choosing between lotteries, qualifying standards and higher prices as the means of rationing. Paris has chosen chance over speed, and while that will frustrate anyone who has reliably secured a place by being quick, it is the fairest of the available options and the one most of the sport's largest races have already settled on. Whether the draw is weighted, whether previous applicants accrue any priority and what the fee will be are the questions Tuesday's announcement needs to answer.