When is The Big Half?

The next edition of The Big Half takes place on 6 September 2026.

Where does The Big Half take place?

The Big Half takes place in London, UK.

What distances does The Big Half offer?

Entry options include: Big Mile, Little Half, Big Half.

How is The Big Half rated by runners?

The Big Half has an average rating of 4.21 out of 5 from 112 verified participant reviews on Racecheck.

What is The Big Half like?

Based on participant reviews, runners describe it as: Ideal for beginners (81% of reviews), Large Festival Atmosphere (100% of reviews), Urban & City (100% of reviews), Flat & Fast (82% of reviews).

The Big Half reviews

Name: The Big Half
Start: 2026-09-06
End: 2026-09-06
Location: London, UK
Rating: 4.21

Cassandra P.

4.4

· 2024 Big Half ·

The good? I loved the atmosphere of this race, and the route itself is pretty great. The crowd were fantastic, and even at the massive hill at the end (that was a MASSIVE struggle!) I still knew I'd love and finish it. Really great water provisions, lucozade on route! Was fantas...

The good? I loved the atmosphere of this race, and the route itself is pretty great. The crowd were fantastic, and even at the massive hill at the end (that was a MASSIVE struggle!) I still knew I'd love and finish it. Really great water provisions, lucozade on route! Was fantastic, felt really supported, and the showers? Fantastic fun! A really good balance of music and vibes, and then slightly quieter points for the crowds to hype you up and you to find your zen again. It was a really great atmosphere and the perfect London vibe of everybody coming together. The bad? The awful cobblestone part that just KEPT GOING and dropped my pace by a good minute per mile. Not great communication at the start line about the waves. Honestly my bugbear on this race was just the finish. First of all you're handed things that you're just juggling because there's no bag, and then you're sent to stand and wait in a shady finish funnel while your legs cramp up and it's far too crowded to stretch out while you wait.

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Adam B.

4.6

· 2024 Relay ·

3rd time doing the relay, brilliant as usual. The marshal that was at Relay changepoint 2 (runner 2 changing to runner 3) was immense. The guy was cheering and shouting encouragement from the first wheelchair participant through to the point I started my run, he was fantastic!!! ...

3rd time doing the relay, brilliant as usual. The marshal that was at Relay changepoint 2 (runner 2 changing to runner 3) was immense. The guy was cheering and shouting encouragement from the first wheelchair participant through to the point I started my run, he was fantastic!!! Everything about the event, great, other than the fact that leg 3 wasn't even 5k, doesn't really make sense in my opinion to have a leg that is shorter than 5k when dividing up a 21k race, which for me was the only downside to the whole event.

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Victor A.

4.4

· 2024 Big Half ·

Good organisation, nice flat course and managed to get a PB despite the hot weather. Its good they have brought back water in bottles as I cant drink and run with the water cups. I finished at around 10.45 so I didn’t experience much congestion at the finish but my friends did wh...

Good organisation, nice flat course and managed to get a PB despite the hot weather. Its good they have brought back water in bottles as I cant drink and run with the water cups. I finished at around 10.45 so I didn’t experience much congestion at the finish but my friends did who finished later. Most support staff were friendly apart from one who was near the photo stand, she was extremely rude and insulting. One thing I didnt like was the long sleeved T-shirt, cant wear in hot weather and not warm enough for the winter running. I know it is meant to be for Muslims runners so they feel inclusive but you might as well give out hijabs instead because most people prefer short sleeved T-shirt. I did try to find out whether it would be short or long sleeve but I was told they will only know when the event guide comes out, by which time it will be too late to opt out. The solution would be to offer two options.

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Colin C.

4.7

· 2024 Big Half ·

This was my first Big Half, and overall the day went great. I decided (after not training well) that I would use it as a long run and just have fun with it. The course was good and very well marked. Bag drop off was simple pre race and getting to the start line was signed well. T...

This was my first Big Half, and overall the day went great. I decided (after not training well) that I would use it as a long run and just have fun with it. The course was good and very well marked. Bag drop off was simple pre race and getting to the start line was signed well. The course was marked well, no way you could get lost, or go of course and plenty of volunteers, crowds and some musical entertainment along the way. Finish line was good, after the swopping left turn, its just a sprint to the end. Post race, I liked the set up. It was a nice cool down walk as I picked up my water, Lucozade, medal, bag drop and finally event shirt. Then it lead into the open space were there was a bunch of things, but I did not stay to utilise any. Hot day in 2024 but fun overall :-)

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Rob A.

4.6

· 2024 Big Half ·

A really good big city event with a great crowd support. A decent course for a good time, but we had a warm day that got up to 26 degrees with a bit of wind, so times were a little slower this year. The mile 2 goes into a warm tunnel, then you climb out the other side and towards...

A really good big city event with a great crowd support. A decent course for a good time, but we had a warm day that got up to 26 degrees with a bit of wind, so times were a little slower this year. The mile 2 goes into a warm tunnel, then you climb out the other side and towards Canary Wharf. GPS can be off through these two sections and like many others, I went out marginally too hard for the first 5k and likely paid for it a little later in the race! That said, the organisation was great, plenty of toilets, waved starts based on finish times, and seemed to run very smoothly. Good pre event comms and got my pack in the post OK. Would recommend it to anyone after a big city half.

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Kip H.

3.2

· 2024 Big Half ·

Generally the event was well organised and it's fun to do the London route but the end was horrific. I logged an extra 0.5 miles from the finish line to pick up the medal and t-shirt. And then it was almost impossible to find family because of the one way systems. Why not finish ...

Generally the event was well organised and it's fun to do the London route but the end was horrific. I logged an extra 0.5 miles from the finish line to pick up the medal and t-shirt. And then it was almost impossible to find family because of the one way systems. Why not finish in Greenwich near a park so there are meeting points and the finish can actually be a finish.

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Denise S.

1.1

· 2024 ·

No changing area! My husband had to change in the park in public. Only long sleeved finisher tops. Don’t like them. Only going to wear under a t-shirt in the winter as a base layer. The ‘bar’ was alcohol free only. Why not have a drink stall selling soft drinks? I...

No changing area! My husband had to change in the park in public. Only long sleeved finisher tops. Don’t like them. Only going to wear under a t-shirt in the winter as a base layer. The ‘bar’ was alcohol free only. Why not have a drink stall selling soft drinks? It was empty there as everyone walked up to the ‘bar’ to buy a drink and found out it was all chemical, alcohol free and walked away again.

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Adele V.

4.6

· 2023 Big Half ·

One of my London favourites with Landmarks to see and great support on route. Medal is well designed and t-shirt was great this year long sleeve really useful

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Owen S.

4.3

· 2023 Big Half ·

Given the large amount of people taking part, i thought it was well organised with lots of volunteers and information signs. To run in my assigned pen, i'd probably needed to arrive an hour prior to the allocated start time. After passing the finish line, it is a fairly long ...

Given the large amount of people taking part, i thought it was well organised with lots of volunteers and information signs. To run in my assigned pen, i'd probably needed to arrive an hour prior to the allocated start time. After passing the finish line, it is a fairly long route to collect the drink, medal, t-shirt, bag etc. but given the amount of people (both running and tourists) it's the most practical method and it wasn't too burdensome.

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Simon A.

4.7

· 2023 Big Half ·

We had a great day at the Big Half! Enjoyed the course, there was plenty of support. Start and Finish could be improved 1. No urinals at the start meant the toilet queues were huge. Adding urinals would help a lot. 2. We headed to our pen at the time stated in the pack under "G...

We had a great day at the Big Half! Enjoyed the course, there was plenty of support. Start and Finish could be improved 1. No urinals at the start meant the toilet queues were huge. Adding urinals would help a lot. 2. We headed to our pen at the time stated in the pack under "Go to start pen" and we ended up 3 (three!) groups behind our own and couldn't see a relevant pacer. When I looked around almost no-one was in the right group. The pack needs to be updated. 3. After the finish there is over a km to walk to get to the meet and greets which was a bit frustrating. But overall a great experience!

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The Big Half