The Big Half

The Big Half is an annual road running event over the half marathon distance (21.1 km), held in central London, United Kingdom. The event, first held in 2018, initially took place in early March, a few weeks before the London Marathon, but after the COVID-19 pandemic switched to dates in late August/early September.

Course

The event, organised by London Marathon Events, attracts both mass and elite participation, with runners following a course that is closed to road traffic. They start near the north side of Tower Bridge on the Highway then run eastwards, including a stretch through the Limehouse Link tunnel, to the Canary Wharf district before returning through Wapping to cross Tower Bridge. Runners then route through Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and Deptford to finish by the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. Finish area facilities are accommodated in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum and Queen's House and in Greenwich Park.

The 2023 event attracted over 16,000 runners, and was also the official British Athletics trial race for the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships.

The Big Mile is a free mass participation event using the same finishing stretch as The Big Half.

Records

Mo Farah and Charlotte Purdue are respectively both three-time winners of the elite men's and elite women's categories of the event. The men's course record holder is Kenenisa Bekele; the women's course record holder is Eilish McColgan.