The Big Half – London’s community half marathon – returns on Sunday (4 September) with an exciting mix of world-class racing, fundraising and community celebrations.

Leading the elite fields will be recently crowned Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan, multiple Olympic and World Championships gold medallist Sir Mo Farah, and Paralympic star David Weir.

Strong domestic fields

McColgan will be up against the reigning The Big Half champion Charlotte Purdue in the elite women’s race. A exciting domestic field also includes European Championship and Commonwealth Games performers Samantha Harrison and Calli Thackery with Olympian Steph Twell and Welsh star Clara Evans expected to make it a very competitive race.

In the men’s race while two former winners, Jake Smith and Chris Thompson, will be among those challenging Farah in the elite men’s race. They will be joined by the winner of the 2022 Vitality 10000m, Ellis Cross, 2nd place finisher at the 2021 race Jack Rowe, 2016 Rio Olympian Ross Millington and straight off the back of a 17th place finish at the European Champs mararthon Phil Sesemann.

Commonwealth Games marathon champion JohnBoy Smith will renew rivalries with Weir in the elite men’s wheelchair race, while Commonwealth Games marathon silver medallist Eden Rainbow-Cooper is the one to watch in the elite women’s wheelchair race.

The wheelchair races will start at 08:25 and the elite men and women plus the masses will get under way at 08:30. The action will be shown live across the BBC from 08:10 to 10:30 on BBC iPlayer, the Red Button and BBC Sport website, and on The Big Half Facebook page.

Festival of running

In addition to the elite races, there will be more than 16,000 The Big Half participants, including more than 3,000 people from community groups across London. Also included in The Big Half is the New Balance Big Relay, where teams of four can take on four legs of the 13.1-mile distance, and The Big Mile, a family-friendly event over the final mile of the route.

For the first time this year, participants in the half marathon were given the option to choose whether to collect a New Balance finisher’s T-shirt designed by a community group and/or finisher’s medal, or to have a tree planted instead, as part an initiative with Trees not Tees that has seen more than 3,000 trees planted.
Full event details and start times:

The Big Half (08:25 start) – a half marathon starting close to Tower Bridge before passing through four London boroughs – Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets – and finishing in front of the iconic Cutty Sark.
The Big Mile (14:30 start) – a free, family-friendly one-mile fun run around Greenwich for first-timers, families and children of all ages.
The New Balance Big Relay (08:30 start) – teams of four participants take on The Big Half in relay legs of around 5K each.