The Chelmsford Half Marathon is growing, and changes are planned for next year's event, but we'll reveal that shortly. This year's programme, with the supporting 10K and 5K races all starting simultaneously, saw 2,467 participants on Sunday, 1st March 2026.

Unfortunately, just over 30 finishers, mainly in the longest race, were disqualified for wearing headphones that are not permitted by UK Athletics, despite the clear pre-race instructions, which stated: "Whilst this is a closed road event, there are some road crossings, e.g., Bond Street and Riverside, that remain open to the public. Therefore, you must clearly be able to hear and listen to any instructions given by race marshals throughout."

This was the sixth edition of the Chelmsford Half Marathon, supported by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), on a course that has only 72m of elevation gain. The half marathon route runs on Parkway, High Bridge, Essex Yeomanry Way, Brook End Gardens, Chelmer Village Way, and through Chelmer Valley Nature Reserve and Springfield Hall Park to the finish at ARU.

This year's half marathon winner was an under-18 junior, William Harvey (Braintree District AC, 1:13:39) from Max Stapleton (City of Southend AC, 1:14:00) and Ronan Homer (Leigh on Sea Striders, 1:14:09). The top three in the women's race were Chelmsford AC pair Hannah Bolton (1:20:30) and Megan Williams (1:22:08) and Alex Cross (Grange Farm & Dunmow Runners, 1:24:12).

There were 620 finishers in the 10K, with victories for Oliver Livens (Colchester Harriers, 34:23) and W40 Laura Wise (Pitsea RC, 39:40). The 5K winners were under-16 Daniel Pollard (Chelmsford AC, 16:48) and under-12 Ronni Townsend (Colchester & Tendring AC, 20:44), as 188 finished.

To handle the increased numbers safely and efficiently, the race was started in waves. The main changes for next year – when the event is scheduled for 7th March – are that the 5K race will be dropped from the programme and organisers are considering separate starts for the 10K and half marathon.

To learn more and to register for 2027, visit the official website here.

Results are available via the runABC South race listing here.

Image courtesy of Chelmsford Half Marathon on Facebook