Two Oceans 2027 Ballot Closes This Sunday at 10pm
The ballot for the 2027 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon powered by BYD closes at 22:00 SAST on Sunday, 16 August 2026. You can enter the Ultra ballot, the Half ballot, or both with a preferred event nominated. The draw is announced on Tuesday, 18 August, and anyone who gets an entry has until midday on Monday, 31 August to pay for it.
The short version
The ballot for the 2027 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon powered by BYD closes at 22:00 SAST on Sunday, 16 August 2026. That is the deadline for every runner who does not already hold an entry, and there is no late window afterwards.
Three dates are all you need to hold onto:
- Sunday, 16 August, 22:00: the ballot closes
- Tuesday, 18 August: you find out whether you were drawn
- Monday, 31 August, 12:00: payment deadline for anyone who gets an entry
Enter the ballot here. It takes a few minutes, and being in the draw costs you nothing but the time.
Your three options
If you do not yet have an Ultra or Half entry, you go into the draw one of three ways:
- Enter the Ultra ballot
- Enter the Half ballot
- Enter both, and nominate your preferred event
That last option is the one worth understanding. Under the race's "Two Ballots. One Entry." system, if your name comes out of both draws you are given your preferred event only, so nobody ends up holding two places and nobody blocks a spot they were never going to use.
There is one more route. If you have already bought a TOMI entry for the Half or the Ultra, you may enter the ballot for the other event. An Ultra entry in hand means you can still ballot for the Half.
Get drawn, then pay attention
An entry drawn is not an entry secured. The race notifies runners on Tuesday, 18 August, and payment closes at midday on Monday, 31 August. Miss that and the place goes back, which is a painful way to lose something thousands of people wanted.
Diarise the payment date now, while you are thinking about it. Two weeks is long enough to forget, and the race has been clear that the deadline is the deadline.
The Ultra still needs a qualifier
Entering the Ultra ballot and qualifying for the Ultra are two different jobs. A place in the draw does not waive the standard: you need a sub-5:00 marathon, or the equivalent over a longer distance, run after 30 May 2026, plus a permanent ASA licence if you are South African.
Not sure whether your time counts, or what it means for your start batch? Put it into our Two Oceans qualifying calculator, and read the full qualifying guide for the standards, the seeding batches and the licence rules.
The rest of race week
The Ultra and the Half are the headline, but they are not the only way to get a race number in Cape Town. Race week also has:
- The trail runs, across three distances
- A night run, new for 2027, run under the stars instead of the Cape sun
- The International Friendship Run, the relaxed one where the field is the point rather than the clock
Those are separate entries and do not run through the ballot, so if the draw does not go your way, race week can still be yours.
Do not leave it to Sunday night. The ballot closes at 22:00 on 16 August 2026, and entry systems are busiest in the last hours. Get into the draw now.