Organisers of the Irish Life Dublin Marathon have announced an increased entry fee of €130, the first price hike in five years, due to the significant rise in the costs of staging the event.
It marks an 18 per cent increase on the previous entry fee of €110, with the overall race entry for 2027 once again capped at 22,500 runners.
However, from next year’s event the €4 ballot entry fee will be refunded to all unsuccessful applicants. There was a record 47,000 applications in the lottery-based ballot for this year’s event, with a €5 administration fee also applied to all entries to cover “processing and verification costs”, whether they were successful or not.
The increased entry fee of €130, plus platform and payment processing fees, is mainly the result of inflation significantly increasing the cost of delivering the event.
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“We are fully aware that going from €110 to €130 is an increase that people are not going to be incredibly comfortable with,” said Seán Ó Riain, CEO of Dublin Marathon Group.
“But when we sat down and looked at our financial sustainability piece for the next number of years, and if you look cumulatively over the last five years, inflation has been somewhere between 18 and 20 per cent. We’re seeing a significant increase in costs across infrastructure, security, medical, and traffic management.
“To be completely transparent you will see that in our surplus this year, it’s less than €70,000, where in previous years it was quite high. And that’s a direct result of investing in a new race, the Dublin City Half Marathon, but also just the spiralling costs of putting on something in the city over 42 kilometres, and an expo, and on all the trimmings that come with that.”
Entry fees for the three Irish Life Dublin Race Series events will also increase in 2027, with the Irish Life Fingal 10k now priced at €35, the Irish Life Frank Duffy 10 Mile at €40, and the Irish Life Dublin Half Marathon at €55.
Ó Riain added: “We want to retain that standard, we’re very proud of what we produce as a marathon, and as a race, for our runners. We are a not-for-profit and what we do is put all of our money back into that runner experience piece.
“Covering the ballot fee is certainly part of that increase, but the majority of it comes with the significant cost of putting on a race in the city. And in order to retain that standard, and that’s really important for us, that’s where we landed on with €130.”
For this year’s race, the organisers introduced a ballot across all general entries, designed to provide a fairer balance between first-time runners and previous participants. Of these 47,000 applicants, a total of 17,200 were successful in the ballot, with close to a 50-50 split between first-time marathoners and returning runners.
With 29,800 of the ballot applications not successful, this amounted to €149,000 in administration fees still collected, which the organisers pointed out went back into the running of the event. Successful applicants will continue to have the ballot entry fee offset against the marathon entry price.
“This year, and going forward, we made that decision to refund the ballot entry fee,” said Ó Riain. “And that’s something that would have come back in our survey, and our runner feedback, and we take that really seriously.”
The remaining 5,300 entries go to charity-based runners, good-for-age entries, club runners entering the national marathon championship, plus the elite field.
Following runner feedback, the official transfer window for this year’s was extended to more than two months, the longer transfer window will be in place again for 2027.
On Monday, the organisers announced that this year’s event, set for Sunday October 25th, will be broadcast live on TG4, marking the event’s return to terrestrial television for the first time since 2011.
