The Run Barns Green Half Marathon is no stranger to awards, having collected several accolades from BARR (British Association of Road Races) since the inaugural race in 1982 when more than 1,000 runners swamped the small Sussex village near Horsham.

The skills of the local volunteer race committee have been honed to perfection since the air of panic that descended on that first day as a seemingly endless stream of cars rolled into the village and members of the tennis club helped register runners and hand out numbers (all entries being taken on the day)!

We now have a slick, four-race programme with Barns Green Half Marathon (recently ranked the fourth best in the UK by one race listing website) as the nucleus. The inaugural race was won by John Leversedge (1:08:40) and Tracey Howard (1:19:55) – times that would stand out today. ‘Vincit Qui Patitur’ (‘He who endures Conquers’) had been race committee member Alan Train’s motto and was endorsed by all as appropriate for such an event.

The next edition of Run Barns Green Half Marathon, supported by Run Barns Green 10K, Run Barns Green 5K, and Run Barns Green Jennings Junior Jog is on Sunday 29 September 2024 – so six weeks to get ready. Amongst the changes since 1982 are the fully closed roads through the beautiful West Sussex countryside, with the half marathon and 10K routes passing through the historic Christ’s Hospital school.

You will also find live music at the start and finish and live bands and music along the route, where you will find there are water stations, distance markers, marshals, and of course the support of all the locals and spectators. Another change is the requirement to enter in advance, so the hard-working event committee knows how many runners are coming!

The winners of last year's half marathon were M40 Neil Boniface (Horsham Blue Star Harriers, 1:12:17) and W50 Sharon Walker (Dorking & Mole Valley AC, 1:26:12) from 651 finishers. The 10K leaders were Andrew Green (Uckfield Runners, 33:21) and W50 Elspeth Turner (Horsham Blue Star Harriers, 38:16) as 607 completed the course. The fastest 5K runners were Michael Daly (Horsham Joggers, 17:45) and Katie Foss (Crawley AC, 22:16) as another 142 runners brought the total finishers to 1,400.

For more information, visit the Run Barns Green Half Marathon website.

Previous race results can be viewed at the runABC South race listing here.

Photo courtesy Run Barns Green 2023 Gallery