With 2025 gearing up for a sprint finish, thoughts are turning to new beginnings in 2026. Will you be among the thousands of hardened enthusiasts who will be racing on New Year's Day?

We have looked at the runABC South comprehensive race listing and see nine opportunities to lace up and race, despite New Year's Day falling on a Thursday. The venues to select from are in London, Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Dorset, Somerset, Norfolk, and the Channel Islands.

City slickers will head for The Old Football Pitches, Hyde Park for Serpentine RC's New Year's Day 10K and 3K Fun Run. This traditional pipe-opener has been going strong since the mid-1980s and usually draws at least 500 runners. There were 750 finishers in 2024. The 10K course records are 29:39, set by Seyfu Jamaal in 2024, and 33:53 by Emma Pallant in 2018.

Sussex is embracing the bracing conditions with two events, one of which is guaranteed to be both the last race of 2025 and the first in 2026! Phoenix Running and Phoenix Running West Sussex have teamed up to bring you a unique double ultra event at Ardingley. On New Year's Eve, you can run the last race of the year and finish before midnight. You can then run the first event of 2026, starting at the stroke of midnight. Run one event, or do the double, you choose.

The other Sussex event is the hilly Hangover 5 by Worthing Gazelles. The West Sussex Fun Run League race attracts around 500 runners to Hill Barn, Worthing, and this year's winning times were 31:53 by Graham Russ (Steyning AC) and 36:24 by Lucie Bourne (Hove Hornets).

It wouldn't be New Year's Day without the (in)famous Knacker Cracker – billed as Britain's toughest 10K – with 473m of ascent and 335m descent on Surrey's Box Hill. This race has been breaking wills (and other parts) for 22 years! Ladies are equally invited to test their resolve in the Knicker Knacker 10K, and there is a Kids' Fun Run called the Nipper Knacker!

A quarter of a marathon is an unusual race distance, but that is the measure of the Junction Broadstone Quarter Marathon. This frequently sold-out event will feature 500 competitors in the 40th edition of the race held at The Junction – Broadstone's Leisure Centre. Poole Runners are behind this enduringly popular event in Dorset.

The remaining options at the time of writing are the New Ash Green 10K in Kent; the Chard Flyer New Year's Day 10K in Somerset; the Wymondham New Year's Day 10K in Norfolk, or the New Year's Day Cross Country in Guernsey.

Details on all New Year's Day 2026 races are available at the runABC South race listing here.

Photo courtesy Knacker Cracker 2024