All finishers will receive a technical t-shirt and a bespoke medal
Worcester Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K
THE 2024 RACE IS OFFICIALLY OPEN – BOOK ASAP AFTER THE 2023 EDITION SOLD OUT
2024 will see the continuation of our happy & successful partnership with St Richard’s Hospice, an independent charity providing free expert care for patients, their families and bereaved people in Worcestershire. The St Richard’s team are also fantastic supporters of Worcester Full & Half Marathon, helping to provide lots of marshals who will be cheering you on during your race.
We strongly encourage you to do your bit and help raise money for this inspirational charity. It costs £10.28m to run the hospice, which includes patient care and all the necessary support services.
Voluntary support, including from donations, gifts in Wills, retail and events raises 78% of their income with the remaining 22% from the NHS.
To run in support of St Richard’s Hospice please tick YES when asked if you wish to run for St Richard’s. You will then be sent a link to set up your onlinesponsorship page and a printable sponsor form. You can also make a donation at the same time as you enter. For more details on how you can support us, go to https://www.strichards.org.uk/ support-us/fundraising/
Event Information
Worcester Full and Half Marathon will be in its 13th year in 2024. The 2023 event completely sold out so it’s worth booking your place early and avoid missing out.
Both longer race distances start at 9:30am in Offerton Lane. The Full Marathon takes in two laps of the loop around beautiful rural lanes. The Half accompanies the Full for the first lap before splitting away just after 11 miles and heading back to the finish, which this year is at Worcester Rugby Club, not at Sixways
All marathon and half marathon finishers receive a 2024 quality bespoke medal and a T-shirt.
10K finishers will receive a medal and next year will also receive a race T-shirt – this race starts at 10am.
Photographs will be available at yourraceday.co.uk shortly after the race.
Please note that parking is at Sixways and not at the start/finish area at the Worcester Rugby Club. Parking is free for runners but Sixways are insisting on charging £5 for cars without a runner, so be warned when making plans, take your spectators with you!
Registration
Pre-Enter
Click on the red ‘Enter Now’ button and fill in the form.
Race Day
A Registration or Information Point will be open at 7:30am at the Worcester RFC Rugby Ground for anyone who needs to pick up a late race pack or has a query. Day entries will be available unless we’ve reached our race limit. It’s worth booking your place early to avoid the risk of missing out on a place.
Numbers and Timing Chips
These will be posted out to you shortly before the event. If you have mislaid your race pack or it hasn’t arrived in the post, please come to registration on race day and we will issue you with a new pack. Please give yourself enough time to do this before the start of the race.
Minimum Age
Marathon – 18 years old
Half Marathon – 17 years old
10K – 15 years old
Entry Fee
Marathon: –
Running Club Member (affiliated) – £42
Non-Club Member (unaffiliated) – £44
Half Marathon: –
Running Club Member (affiliated) – £37
Non-Club Member (unaffiliated) – £39
10K:-
Running Club Member (affiliated) – £29
Non-Club Member (unaffiliated) – £31
Please note there is also a small transaction fee.
Cut Off Times
Much as we hate the idea of cut off times we cannot ask our volunteers to be out for too long. There are no cut off times for the half marathon or 10K, but in the full marathon if you do not reach the 11 mile point (where the half turns for home) by 2 hrs and 15 minutes you will be directed to complete just the half marathon, for which you will still get a finish time, medal and tee shirt.
If it looks like you are going to take 6 hours or more please let us know and we may start you in an earlier group.
Full and Half Marathon Course
The Half and Full Marathon race starts at 9.30am. The 10K race starts at 10am. Please be in place on the car park at the Worcester Rugby Ground (not the Warriors Ground) for 9:15am so you can get into pens based on your predicted finish time.
10K
Starting on Offerton Lane the route goes in the same direction as the longer races, but then you turn up onto the canal towpath where you will enjoy a beautiful 4km of scenic path up to Dunhamptead. The route then picks up the race route again for the longer distances by heading along Plough Lane and Green Lane back up to Smite before descending back down the hill and back to the finish.
Half Marathon
The race route follows Offerton Lane up to Smite by the Pear Tree Hotel. Turning right to head to the village of Oddingley you will take another right turn and head for another lovely village, Tibberton. Once Through Tibberton you’ll take your first left turn of the race and head through the village of Crowle and then before Himbleton, you will do a new loop up and through Sale Green. Once past Himbleton the route turns left onto Hay Lane and heads for Spernal Green. Aiming then for Dunhamstead you return to Oddingley where Half Marathon Runners make the return journey back up to the Pear Tree Hotel and then downhill along Offerton Lane. The route then heads back to the finish.
Full Marathon
The Full Marathon runners follow the same course as the Half Marathon until they enter the village of Oddingley for the second time; they then carry on straight through the village and start the second lap. They then follow the same course again except just before they get to the village of Himbleton there is a right turn past Huddington entering a loop that brings them back to the far side of Himbleton rejoining the original Half Marathon Course. They then repeat the route along Hay Lane, through Spernal Green and back to Oddingley before retracing their original steps past the Pear Tree Hotel and and back to the finish.
Directions and Parking
Parking is provided at Sixways, which is adjacent to the race and well signed. It is free for cars with runners (show your race number) but Sixways are insisting on charging £5 per car without runners.
By Road
Take Junction 6 off the M5 motorway. Take the A4538 to Droitwich. Sixways is signposted from the motorway junction island.
By Rail
Worcester Shrub Hill Station
Make your way to Worcester Bus Station which is approximately a 15-minute walk into the city centre or take a short taxi ride (there is a taxi rank right outside the station). A taxi will cost approximately £8-£10.
Worcester Foregate Street Station
Worcester Bus Station is a short walk into the city centre and signposted.
Prizes
Prizes will be handed out on the day in the finish area. Please come and speak to the organisers if you think you’re in line to win a prize so we can confirm the timings of the prize giving. There are prizes for the first 3 finishers of each gender and the first in each age group starting from 35 and going up in 10 year increments. If an age group winner also finishes in the top 3 then the age group prize rolls down to the next finisher.
Baggage, Toilets & Water Stations
Baggage
A baggage drop off area will be provided near the finish area and your bags will be available for collection after the race on viewing your Race Number.
Toilets
There are phlenty of toilets available for you to use by the finishing area.
Water Stations
There will be three water stations on the half marathon and 7 on the full marathon. These are at mile 3.5 (14m), mile 8 (21m) and mile 11 (24m) with an additional one at mile 18. In the interests of re-use plastics please think carefully about how you manage your fluid intake, we throw out hundreds of bottles each year with just one swing taken from them. We will supply some energy drinks at each apart from mile 18, this will be in plastic cups.
Withdrawal And Cancellation
Up to six weeks prior to the race entrants will receive a full refund less a £2.00 admin fee.
After this deadline, no refunds are offered unless the runner comes to help marshal on the day. However an entry may be transferred to another runner on provision of full details prior to the race. Entries cannot be transferred on race day.
In the event of the race being cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control we will attempt to reschedule to a later date in the same year and all entries will transfer to that rescheduled date.
If this proves impossible we will offer entrants either a percentage refund or the option to donate that refund to the race charity.
The percentage refunded / donated will depend on costs incurred at the time of cancellation.
All contact should be made by email
Music Whilst Running
We have officially changed our policy on earphones. Historically we have had a complete ban on earphones for safety reasons and because it impossible for us to verify that every pair worn are bone conducting. But we’re aware that many people train with theirs and can feel uncomfortable without them and it can help with motivation during the tougher moments of a race. So all our events going forward will allow earphones to be warn. However please have volumes at a reasonable level so you can either hear instructions from marshals or noise from vehicles, especially any medics who are trying to get through to any runners who maybe in need of their help.
Event Charities
St. Richard's Hospice
2024 will see the continuation of our happy & successful partnership with St Richard’s Hospice, an independent charity providing free expert care for patients, their families and bereaved people in Worcestershire. The St Richard's team are also fantastic supporters of Worcester Full & Half Marathon, helping to provide lots of marshals who will be cheering you on during your race. We strongly encourage you to do your bit and help raise money for this inspirational charity. It costs £10.28m to run the hospice, which includes patient care and all the necessary support services. Voluntary support, including from donations, gifts in Wills, retail and events raises 78% of their income with the remaining 22% from the NHS. To run in support of St Richard's Hospice please tick YES when asked if you wish to run for St Richard’s. You will then be sent a link to set up your onlinesponsorship page and a printable sponsor form. You can also make a donation at the same time as you enter. For more details on how you can support us, go to https://www.strichards.org.uk/ support-us/fundraising/Event Partners
