Official Race Transfer Windows: Every Deadline, Race by Race

Why transfer windows close so early

The instinct is that a bib is like a concert ticket — a thing you hold, which should be handed over right up until the doors open. Race entries don't work that way, and the reason is worth understanding because it explains every deadline in this guide.

An entry isn't a seat. It's a record: your name, age category, estimated finish time, start wave, medical notes and emergency contact, tied to a chip number. Transferring it means rebuilding that record for a different human. Organisers have to reissue the bib, re-sort start waves, reprint personalised numbers, update the timing database and re-run the medical and emergency data that keeps the course safe. None of that can happen in the week of the race, when the same team is closing roads and building a finish line.

That's why the deadlines land where they do. Gold Coast closes transfers roughly six weeks out. Melbourne runs a two-week window in early August for a race in October. Sunshine Coast cuts off online transfers around ten days before race day, then handles the stragglers in person at the collection desk. The events with the latest deadlines are generally the ones running lean digital systems where the runner does the data entry themselves.

Australia — the calendar

New Zealand — the most generous deadlines anywhere

If you've only entered Australian or British races, New Zealand's approach is a genuine surprise. The IRONMAN Runaway Series events run person-to-person transfers through a self-service portal, and the deadlines are extraordinarily late by international standards.

Two practical notes. Transfers must stay within the same distance — you can't hand a marathon entry to someone who wants to run the half. And the recipient doesn't need to be an existing entrant; they create their own account, enter their own medical and emergency details, and that's precisely the point of doing it officially.

UK & Ireland — the calendar

The races where transfers simply don't exist

This section matters more than any date in the tables, because it's the one that gets people defrauded. At London, Sydney and the Great North Run, there is no mechanism by which one runner's entry can become another runner's entry. Not a difficult process. Not an expensive one. It does not exist.

Which leads to a rule you can apply without knowing anything else about the person you're talking to:

These events aren't being obstructive. At London's scale the security and safeguarding case for knowing exactly who is on the course is overwhelming, and the deferral system is their answer to the same underlying problem. If you can't run London, you don't lose the place — you move it to next year. That's arguably more generous than a transfer, just less flexible.

Who pays the fee — and who handles the money

Two separate money questions get tangled together constantly, and sorting them out before you talk terms with another runner prevents most disputes.

The transfer fee is the organiser's administrative charge, and who pays it varies by event. Dublin charges it to the person receiving the entry. Auckland and Queenstown charge it to the athlete withdrawing. Some events deduct it from the original registrant's refund. It's usually modest — €10 to €20, or NZ$27 — but agree who's covering it up front.

The entry fee itself is the bigger number, and here almost every organiser says the same thing: not our problem. Dublin Marathon Group puts it about as plainly as it can be put — the transfer includes no refund to the original holder, and any payment beyond the transfer fee is arranged directly between the two runners, with neither the ticketing platform nor the event involved or responsible.

What actually happens if you swap outside the window

People assume the worst case is getting told off. It isn't. The consequences are concrete, and they stack up:

• The entry gets cancelled. Dublin states outright that any entry transferred outside its official system is cancelled. Melbourne treats bibs handed over outside the official window as invalid and a breach of terms. Nobody runs — the place is destroyed rather than moved.
• The safety record is wrong. This is the one that should stop you. If a runner collapses at 32km, the medical team reads the name, age, medical notes and emergency contact attached to that number. They will call the wrong person and treat the wrong history. That's not a technicality.
• The result doesn't exist. A time run on someone else's bib belongs to someone else. If it was a Boston qualifier or a Good For Age time, it's worthless — and if it's ever scrutinised, both runners have a problem.
• Insurance follows the entry. Event cover attaches to the registered participant. An unregistered runner on course generally isn't covered by anything.

None of this is hypothetical enough to gamble on. Where an official route exists, use it. Where it doesn't, accept the loss rather than manufacturing a fake solution.

The four-step transfer checklist

Frequently asked questions

When do marathon transfer windows usually close?

Far earlier than most runners expect. Six weeks before race day is common, and some close earlier still. Gold Coast has closed transfers in late May for an early-July race. Melbourne ran a two-week window in early August for an October race. The outliers run the other way: Queenstown accepts transfers until 5pm the day before the race. Assume months, not days, and check.

Which major marathons don't allow transfers at all?

Of the events covered here, London, Sydney and the Great North Run permit no person-to-person transfers whatsoever. London and the Great North Run offer deferral instead. Sydney permits neither transfers nor refunds, with deferral limited to narrow documented circumstances such as its pregnancy and postpartum or defence force policies.

Who pays the transfer fee?

It depends on the event, so check before agreeing terms. Dublin charges the recipient. Auckland and Queenstown charge the withdrawing athlete. Some events deduct it from the original registrant's refund. Separately, reimbursing the original entry fee is a private arrangement between the two runners in almost every case.

Can I transfer my entry to a different distance instead?

Often yes, and it's an underused option. Most events allow a distance change subject to availability, usually with its own deadline and sometimes a fee — you'll typically pay the difference moving up, and won't be refunded moving down. If you're undertrained rather than unable to run, dropping to the half is frequently simpler than transferring the entry away entirely.

I've missed every window. Is there anything left?

Realistically, no. Once the refund and transfer windows have closed, most events won't move or refund the entry for any reason, and deferral is either unavailable or was itself deadline-bound. Your entry becomes a DNS on your record — nothing worse, but nothing recoverable. If you bought optional ticket-protection insurance at registration, claim through that insurer directly. Otherwise, the lesson is for next time: diarise the window the day you enter.

Someone's offering me a bib for a sold-out race. How do I check it's real?

First, confirm the event allows transfers at all — if it doesn't, the offer is fake regardless of how convincing the entry looks. If it does, use any verification tool the event publishes; Dublin's lookup confirms an entry from the holder's email and order ID. Then insist the handover runs through the official portal so the bib is reissued in your name. Never pay before a real transfer invitation arrives in your inbox, and never accept a screenshot as evidence.