2:09 Events

2:09 Events Organising the finest travel packages to the Worlds best marathons, from New York to the Great Wall,

Guaranteed race entry to the New York Marathon and other major events with back-up coaching advice from a group of high achieveing athletes such as Mike Gratton and Chicago Marathon and Olympic 10,000m finalist Paul Evans.

Ordinarily we'd be on the four week countdown ready for the GIRM Challenge, our wet muddy 'adventure' run around army tr...
09/11/2025

Ordinarily we'd be on the four week countdown ready for the GIRM Challenge, our wet muddy 'adventure' run around army training ground in Aldershot. This time with the military taking priority over the land on our intended race weekend, the 2025 event has moved back into January 2026, Sunday January 11 to be precise.
The race is run over four miles or eight and while that may not seem very far, the natural obstacles of mud, chest high water and some short sharp climbs, which are part of the course, will take a toll. The good news is there aren't many four mile or eight mile races so you may still run a PB. But it still won't be very fast but the aim of the race is far more 'fun' rather than pure run.

You probably do not need any extra incentive to sign up for our Longleat 10K on Sunday January 25, 2026. It's a field of...
08/11/2025

You probably do not need any extra incentive to sign up for our Longleat 10K on Sunday January 25, 2026. It's a field of 1500 runners, Longleat Safari Park is an iconic venue rarely open to running events and the race itself, although a little hilly, is traffic free and has a great, fast finish along lodge drive.
This time we'll also have a film crew on site on race filming the event as part of behind the scenes documentary, Inside Longleat, which runs on Channel 5. There is a big team of runners taking part who work on the estate and who will be the focus of the documentary, but you could still be on TV as one of the 'extras' in the field.

We are just back from New York and it was a fabulous trip. Thank you to everyone who travelled with us. Just as soon as ...
05/11/2025

We are just back from New York and it was a fabulous trip. Thank you to everyone who travelled with us.
Just as soon as one Marathon Major trip ends we are busy with the planning for the next. We hope to have our packages for the 2026 Chicago Marathon and Berlin Marathon live and on sale by the end of November. We would hope that New York 2026 will be available in mid December.
Tokyo and Boston sold out almost immediately so the only Abbott Marathon Major we currently have on sale is the 2026 Sydney Marathon presented by Asics. Although the race is not scheduled to take place until August 30 2026, we are already down to our final ten places for the trip. Once again our packages offer guaranteed entry to the 2026 Marathon in combination with five nights hotel accommodation at the Grace Hotel, which is perfectly situated for all race activities in Sydney's Central Business District.
Although it is not a Major we still expect the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon will join the club in 2027. That is a year later than many expected but the cancellation of this year's event in October, due to severe weather, has delayed the celebrations.
We currently have packages available for the 2026 race. Anyone who runs the race in May 2026 - we have a decent group signed up - will receive credit for the race if Cape Town completes its Abbott Marathon Majors qualification and joins the Majors.
There are no guarantees but the race was well on track this year and there is genuine support from the other Majors, who ultimately make the decision, to have Cape Town in the club. So run it while you can.

Here are some medal Monday celebrations from a selection of our runners who finished yesterday's TCS New York City Marat...
03/11/2025

Here are some medal Monday celebrations from a selection of our runners who finished yesterday's TCS New York City Marathon. A particular shout out for those runners in our group who were collecting their six star finisher medals in New York.

You never tire of being in New York, it is such a fun city. Its marathon, the TCS New York City Marathon, is the perfect...
03/11/2025

You never tire of being in New York, it is such a fun city. Its marathon, the TCS New York City Marathon, is the perfect personification of all that is good about the city: it's loud, brash , sometimes tough but always entertaining.
This year's race, which at the latest count had over 59,000 finishers, which is a record for any marathon, was fabulous. The weather was perfect and the crowds, for which the race is famous, were out in force. Here are a few shots from the day, courtesy of our photographer, Kevin McGarry.

It's a lovely day in New York this morning, perfect for running a marathon. All our runners have now departed from our h...
02/11/2025

It's a lovely day in New York this morning, perfect for running a marathon. All our runners have now departed from our hotels and are making their way to the start via bus and ferry. The challenge of simply making it to the start line has an extra dimension in New York.

02/11/2025

The quiet of Central Park on marathon morning awaiting the arrival of more than 50,000 runners.

A few more images from today's Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K. It's a big race with 10,000 runners going off in waves...
01/11/2025

A few more images from today's Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K. It's a big race with 10,000 runners going off in waves and since it uses the same finish as Sunday's Marathon, its a great way to sample some of the Marathon course without having to run the whole 26.2 miles. At the front it was quick too with Amon Kemboi winning the men's race in 13:50 in a closely contested race. In the women's race Annie Rodenfels won her third consecutive race in 15:33.
Further back in the field were race directors or CEOs from all seven Abbott World Marathon Majors - Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo.

This is such a great weekend to be in New York City, not only do we have all the activities linked to Sunday's TCS New Y...
01/11/2025

This is such a great weekend to be in New York City, not only do we have all the activities linked to Sunday's TCS New York City Marathon but Friday night was also Halloween, which is big deal over here. We sent our photographer, Kevin McGarry, down to Times Square to catch some of the revellers ... don't think any of them were our clients.

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Our Story

Many people ask what the 2:09 in 2:09 Events means and are surprised to find out that is the best marathon time of the company founder, Mike Gratton, when winning the London Marthon in 1983.

Now 2:09 Events are one of the leading running specialist travel companies in the World and have membership to TOURS, a group of travel agencies specialising in running travel from 32 different countries. This status has allowed the company to become the International Travel Partner for 5 of the 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors; Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

Having organised events for his running club Invicta East Kent AC back in the day it was inevitable that putting on running events would feature and now 2;09 Events have organised events in Cuba and Uganda, and continue to organise in Bhutan, Cyprus and the Azores.

In the UK the portfolio now includes; South Downs Marathon and Half, Farnborough Winter Half, Longleat 10km and Bacchus Wine Marathon, 3 Santa Runs and a host of charity events throughout the year.