The Big Half has an unmissable festival atmosphere – and everyone's invited!
Brought to you by the organisers of London's famous marathon, you can get set for 13.1 miles of fun today taking in some of the marathon route from a completely different perspective!
Bringing together Londoners of all backgrounds and runners of all abilities from everywhere.
A party atmosphere is promised and a route banked with cheering supporters too!
Enjoy the traffic-free city on some of the famous marathon route in the reverse direction.
These charities have places in the event. To secure your place, select a charity and complete the form to ask a question or get signed up.
Children
Every sick child needs a smile. Helping seriously and terminally ill children, to bring hope and support across the UK.
Sign up
£20
Fundraise
£300
Children
Supporting bereaved children and families to help rebuild their lives.
Sign up
£30
Fundraise
£300
Children
50% off
Supporting cleft surgery and other forms of essential comprehensive cleft care.
50% off with discount code
Sign up
£10 £5
Fundraise
£300
Human rights
Helping refugees build safe, hopeful and productive new lives in the UK.
Sign up
£20
Fundraise
£350
Children
Making dreams come true to bring joy to seriously ill children.
Sign up
£20
Fundraise
£350
Heart
The only charity in the UK to support people with high cholesterol.
Sign up
£30
Fundraise
£350
Education
Unleashing Africa’s potential through STEM: Unlocking digital literacy, coding, and robotics through building school computer labs and running free STEM holiday clubs for teenage boys and girls.
Sign up
£15
Fundraise
£450
Children
Supporting grieving children and young people to ensure they don't face their grief alone.
Sign up
£10
Fundraise
£300
Mental health
Supporting those affected by mental illness to change mental health for good.
Sign up
£20
Fundraise
£300
Cancer
The blood cancer research charity.
Sign up
£10
Fundraise
£300
Free sign up
Homelessness
The only UK charity that reunites missing children and adults with their loved ones.
Sign up
FREE
Fundraise
£350
The New Balance Big Relay covers the same course in four legs and the Big Mile is free, family-friendly event that takes place on the same finishing stretch, ending at the Cutty Sark.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge Road
London
Greater London
SE1 2AA
UK
The 13.1-mile route of The Big Half and the New Balance Big Relay starts on The Highway by Tower Bridge and finishes beside the historic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
The route passes through the four London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich – taking in Canary Wharf, Wapping, Tower Bridge, Rotherhithe and Deptford along the way – before finishing at the iconic sailing ship.
This event aims to inspire and deliver innovation in mass participation event sustainability.
Recycle every plastic bottle.
Reduce power usage and use hydrotreated vegetable oil in generators.
Waste separation to aid recycling and plastic-free finisher bags made from sugarcane.
Participants can opt to plant a tree rather than receive a t-shirt, planting the seed for sustainable change.
The fabulous medal and t-shirts for The Big Half have been designed in collaboration with ASRA Club, a running club and community space placing Muslim women at the forefront of sports, wellness and sisterhood.
Make your memories of The Big Half last forever by purchasing a digital photo package!
Every year thousands of runners take part in this event and fundraise for charity! While this is hugely beneficial to the charities it gives the runner advantages too, from supporting a cause that is close to your heart to securing a place in this sought-after event and much more.
Committing to raising money for charity gives you motivation to get outside and run, plus all of these extras which will elevate your event experience:
Charities know that raising money is all part of the challenge, which is why they provide advice, branded materials and a personalised online fundraising page to help the donations roll in. Think videos for social media, branded imagery and testimonials from previous runners.
Whether this is your first run or your fifth, you'll need to train for it! You'll receive an in-depth training plan with guidance, plus many charities have access to expert coaches and elite runners too, who can provide exclusive tips for your race preparation. Experts include Runningwithus, Full Potential and Olympic champs.
When you show up on the day, people need to be able to see clearly that you're supporting a charity. Most charities will give you a branded and personalised t-shirt or vest to run in on the big day, and often a training top too.
When you're partway through your run and your energy is flagging, what you need is a boost from cheering spectators to keep you moving. Many charities set up a cheer station along the route, keeping an eye out for you to send up a huge cheer as you run past!
Refreshments and an indulgent post-race sports massage are often provided by charities for their runners. This is the perfect way to recover alongside other people who have run for that cause.
You won't be the only person running for that charity, so it's well worth meeting other runners through the charity's invite-only social media pages! You can organise to meet up for training runs, chat with the charity's expert coaches and share tips and stories with each other to keep the motivation levels running high.
Charities buy places in this event, then give them to runners who agree to raise money for the charity – these are called charity places. Charity places are a great way to support a good cause and get a place in the event, especially if general entries are closed.
Running a half marathon and charity fundraising go hand-in-hand - which charity will you run for?
Really great atmosphere and great for chasing down that PB!! Would recommend to every runner. Lucy R
It was fun running over Tower Bridge. Lynsey K
It's a great race with a big crowd of runners. Connor D
This is my favourite half marathon. I love the route as it takes in some great parts of London- including Tower Bridge and ends up in Greenwich.
It has great PB potential. Sarah M
I loved the route. Running through parts of London I’ve never visited before. Support was fantastic. I got goosebumps running over London Bridge because the support was so loud.
A great sized medal and a nice T-shirt and food bits at the end. Dan M
It's a flat, fast course with a great atmosphere, fantastic crowds spectating and the medal and T-shirt are very nice. David A
Reviews thanks to RaceCheck