“Is It Harder to Register Than to Finish? 1,000 Granted Privileges?” Runners Outraged Over Cheonan Lee Bongju Marathon

List of Clubs Provided to Operator Before Official Registration
Cheonan City Responds to Controversy: "Excluded from Final Race List"
Marathon "Ticket Wars" Become the New Normal Amid Running Boom
Fairness in Question as First-Come, First-Served Principle Broken

While the number of people running is rapidly increasing, it is becoming ever more difficult to actually stand at the starting line of a marathon race. Registration for popular marathon events has turned into a “ticket war” akin to securing concert seats, and runner frustration is mounting after revelations that a list of roughly 1,000 applicants was provided to the event operator ahead of the official registration for the Lee Bong-Ju Marathon in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.

The number of people running is rapidly increasing, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand at the starting line of a marathon race. Photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Photo by Yoon Dongju

According to News1 and other sources on August 5, controversy has erupted after it was revealed that around 1,000 people attempted to register for the Lee Bong-Ju Marathon in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province even before the official registration period began. Especially as the surge in running’s popularity has made marathon entry increasingly competitive, calls are growing for a change to the application process.

Marathon “Ticket Wars” Amid Running Boom... Competition Begins with Registration

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s 2025 National Sports for All Survey, participation in running, jogging, and marathons jumped to 7.7%, up sharply from 4.8% the previous year. The industry estimates South Korea’s running population at around 10 million. Just a few years ago, anyone could typically participate in a marathon event as long as they applied within the registration period, but now tens of thousands crowd the online entry site the second it opens, turning it into an “online race.”

In fact, among marathon enthusiasts, many now lament that “getting a spot is harder than finishing the race.” Despite major events welcoming tens of thousands of participants, surges in applicants frequently crash event websites or result in registration closing within mere minutes. Among runners, there’s even a tongue-in-cheek expression: “You have to cross the registration pass,” referring to how hard it is to overcome the entry hurdle for popular races.

Cheonan Lee Bongju Marathon Poster and Notice Regarding the Controversy. Cheonan City

In this environment, controversy erupted among runners over early registration ahead of the official process for the 5th Cheonan Lee Bong-Ju Marathon. Registration for this year’s event, with 7,000 spots—2,000 more than last year—opened at 10 a.m. on March 31 via the official website. The 4th annual event closed its 5,000 slots in roughly 10 minutes, reflecting surging popularity. As anticipated, registration day saw an overwhelming influx of applicants. However, despite the website itself being accessible, group and bulk registrations were not functioning as expected. Applicants initially assumed this was due to high traffic or server issues. With no announcement of closure, many resorted to repeated refreshing, trying continually to secure a slot.

Ultimately, about six hours into the process—around 4 p.m.—online registration closed without any further explanation. One participant complained that out of 30 club members, only three managed to register and that runners across the country had likely waited in front of their computers all day trying to secure a spot.

As failed attempts mounted, some began to suspect that the issues extended beyond simple server overload. Reports surfaced that certain running clubs had already completed group registrations ahead of the official process and had circulated internal posts urging members not to share this information externally.

List of 1,000 Provided Before Official Registration... First-Come, First-Served Principle Undermined

As Cheonan City investigated the facts, it confirmed that a list of applicants had indeed been provided to the event operator that managed online registration before the official application process began. The list, reportedly including local running club members, contained the names of about 1,000 people. This meant procedures deviated from the initial plan to register participants solely on a first-come, first-served basis via online application. A city official stated that, after checking with the Cheonan City Athletics Federation and the event operator, about 1,000 people had submitted early applications before official registration began.

However, according to the city’s explanation, the names on this list had not actually completed registration and would not be automatically included in the final roster of participants. Still, given the scarcity and value of marathon entry slots nowadays, the reassurance that the early list did not guarantee entry is unlikely to quell criticism. For runners, the fact that some applicants’ names were submitted to the operator before the proper start time—while others had to repeatedly refresh the website and compete with personal details and payment—undermines trust in the first-come, first-served principle.

Riding the wave of running popularity, marathon registration chaos is a nationwide phenomenon. As competition for registration becomes excessively intense, there is also a movement to move away from the first-come, first-served system. The 2026 JTBC Seoul Marathon operated its main registration through a tiered lottery system based on records, rather than simply the fastest registration method. The photo is unrelated to the specific content of the article. The Asia Business Daily

The current marathon entry crisis is a nationwide phenomenon fueled by the running boom. In December last year, registration for the Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon was postponed after a flood of users crashed the website. The 2026 Daegu Marathon also saw approximately 780,000 access attempts in just five minutes when entry opened, even though Daegu City had quadrupled server capacity from the previous year—but login failures and waiting continued. During registration for the Hapcheon Cherry Blossom Marathon, the 10 km course filled in 29 minutes, the half marathon in 30 minutes, the full course in 39 minutes, and the 5 km in 49 minutes.

As registration competition grows ever fiercer, alternatives to the traditional first-come, first-served system are being explored. The 2026 JTBC Seoul Marathon, for example, replaced the fastest-to-enter method with a tiered lottery based on race records, taking applications over a period and then selecting participants through a separate draw. With the running population on the rise, there are growing demands to shift away from “fastest fingers first” toward a system that better guarantees fairness and stability.

There is also criticism that local government and public athletic bodies organizing marathons should clearly disclose participation criteria, group registration possibilities, and any priority quotas before registration opens. If general applicants and certain groups apply under different conditions, it can undermine trust in the administration of the event as a whole. Especially as running’s popularity and fierceness for marathon entries intensify, organizers must not only establish a more robust application system but also ensure transparent, fair recruitment procedures that all participants can accept—making this a key task for event management moving forward.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.