u/Affectionate_Air6902 — reddlx

I wrote up the rules to try and help clear it up and a rough odds calc here in case useful:

https://balott.run/digest/2026-04-28/

High level take aways below, would love to get peoples thoughts on these prospective changes?

- Standard ballot is still free. Closes Friday 1 May, 4pm.

- The "Double Your Chances" tier is back for 2027 (the mechanic ran in 2026 too, thanks to those who flagged this in the comments). What's new this year is the £100 hydration vest as the consolation prize, up from last year's £60 winter running top. Pay £49.99 upfront, you get entered into the standard ballot AND a separate second ballot if your name doesn't come out the first time. LME describe it as "at least doubling" your odds.

- If you do get drawn through standard, your entry fee drops from £79.99 to £49.99 (the £49.99 upfront covers it).

- If you don't get drawn at all, you keep a hydration vest worth £100.

- Last year: 1.1m applications, 36% more than the year before. Standard odds are tightening hard.

Two ways I can talk myself into it: effectively £0 net cost if I'd have entered anyway (the entry fee just shifts forward), or it's a £50 charity donation with a vest (looks a bit naff though and I already have an ON hydration vest I just don't use) and better odds attached.

Two ways I can talk myself out: it's still £50 not refunded if my situation changes, and 36% YoY application growth means even doubled odds are still long.

What's everyone else doing? Standard, paid or sitting it out for a different major? Would be interesting to see the uptick for this, if its popular I worry other majors may follow suit.

If you're going for any of the other majors, then the ballot timetable for each at https://www.balott.run/ballots/ may also be of help.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a parkrun to chase a 5k PB at. Currently working on trying to get my 5k time down to sub 18 mins (currently at 18:45). I figured someone must have a definitive list of the fastest UK parkruns. Turns out, not really, at least not in an easy to digest way anyway. So the main reason for this post is to hopefully fill a community need of an easy to view fast course list!

So I spent an evening pulling recent median finish times off parkrun.org.uk, cross-referencing against the community lists and put together a top 25 specifically for "I want to set a 5k PB". Composite is low elevation, paved or firm surface, recent attendance high enough that pacers turn up, and a low recent median finish time. Capped at five courses per region across the eight UK regions, so anyone reading this should have at least one option within driving distance.

Page is at balott.run/parkrun/fastest-uk

Full disclosure, balott.run is mine. It's primarily a free ballot tracker for big races (London, Berlin, NYC, Tokyo, etc.) and the parkrun page is a sub-page I built off the back of this hunt. No upsell on the parkrun page, no scraping pipeline (curl-and-curate), no affiliation with parkrun, source attribution in the footer. Again, not an ad, just trying to share my solutions to what I believe is a community problem.

Three editorial calls I'd love sense-checked by people who actually run these courses:

Excluded Pegwell Bay because the course is short of 5k. Is that still the case, or have they fixed it?
Went with Antrim over Ormeau as the second NI pick because Belfast Victoria already represents the city, even though Ormeau has the stronger course profile. Thoughts from our friends in NI?
Hackney Marshes, Bromley and Longrun Meadow are flagged seasonal (Hackney summer, Bromley winter, Longrun summer). Anyone with personal experience that contradicts the seasonal call? As a London based runner, I can confirm this is the case for Hackney Marshes.

Mostly though: which UK parkrun gave you your best PB, and which one would you put on the list that I haven't? Looking for a course to dig my teeth into in a few weeks at the end of my 5k block.