THIS RACE IS TAKING A BREAK IN 2027/28
Get ready for the Hitchin Half Marathon & Tough 10 Miler on Sunday, 7th June 2026. The Hitchin Half Marathon is an undulating and hilly course that takes you out of Hitchin to the country roads to Preston and back. It starts and finishes at the town square, Hitchin. The event is held each year in early June and offers a tough 10km option too. The race is also featured in Runner's World as one of the top 23 Half Marathons in the UK.
ENTER THE RACE
This years race is on Sunday, June 7th. This is a timed event and you'll get an entry number, timing chip and a medal at the end of the run.
PRE-RACE
We will contact you via email to confirm details, typically you can pick up your race number the day before the race or on the day.
RACE DAY
The race starts promptly at 8:30am. Make sure you are early enough to collect your race number and warm up
RESULTS
You'll be able to see your race results almost immediately and we'll update the link below so you can get your results on the day
The half marathon is a measured course which goes out and back via Preston village and Offley holes hill. Fully marshalled with 5 water stations. in beautiful chiltern countryside.
3 hour cut off time
Winning times around: 1h 17m, male and 1h 27m female. Majority around 2 hrs.
All races start and end at Town Square
8:30am race start time
The course is, as it sounds, hard, and hilly! From the moment you leave the town square, you head out into Charlton village and then you then encounter the first beast of a climb going up into Preston, then you will head around the local area before returning back towards Charlton and then finally back into Hitchin to finish off at the Priory. The course is hilly and undulating but does have some flat areas too, especially on the way back towards Hitchin after around 11 miles
There is more information on our sister site
Prizes will be given to the overall podium placed male and female winners, plus age group winners too.
You can sign up online by visiting www.burnthare.com and clicking on the link above to do so.
Those that sign up will be able to collect their race bibs the day before or on the day itself. All details on how to do this will be emailed out and posted on our social media pages prior to the event.
Headphones are prohibited and runners may be disqualified as the roads to this event are not closed to traffic or the public. Whilst there will be cars et al at points on the route, everyone in the local area is very respectful due to heavy signage and communications with the local parishes and people prior to the event taking place. It is also heavily marshaled too, with several water stations along the way. For finishing the race, gun times will determine the overall race positions as it is a race, so chip timing will NOT be used as your race position. For prizes, we follow UKA rules on age groupings. If any of the overall winners such as first placed male or female are of a certain age grouping, then the next placed age group person shall inherit the age group winners spot, and this will cascade down if any or all podium placed winners are of the same age group.
The race begins and ends at Hitchin Town Square. There is parking on the say onsite and there is also a variety of car parks in the town centre. We encourage walking to the event and have refreshment onsite and there are many excellent places to eat before and after the event.