The Big Half by London Marathon Events on Sunday 3 September 2023 is set to play a key role in selecting the Great Britain team for the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships in the Latvian capital Riga on Sunday 1 October 2023 – where there is an enlarged race programme and a reduction to a single day event from the previous two-day format.

Championship entries have opened for The Big Half in London and the first three British men and women will achieve automatic World Championships Half Marathon selection as long as they have run the qualifying times of 1:02:30 (men) and 1:11:30 (women).

Spencer Barden, head of elite athletes at London Marathon Events, said: “It’s fantastic that The Big Half will host UK Athletics’ official trial race for the World Athletics Road Running Championships Half Marathon. We’re looking forward to welcoming some of the best British distance runners to London as they battle it out to earn a British vest in Riga.”

General entries for The Big Half are still available at £56/£54, according to status, and there's a £10 reduction for residents of the four host London Boroughs the race passes through: Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lewisham, and Greenwich.

There's also a £10 community entry route for local groups and organisations, sports clubs, schools, or charities in London that benefit their local community. And there's even a free way of getting involved and that is by participating in The Big Mile – held over the final mile of The Big Half and finishing close to the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.

The new timetable for the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga includes mass participation races at one mile, 5K, half marathon, and a half marathon relay. The World Athletics Road Running Championship events are now also at one mile, 5K, and half marathon.

World Athletics president Seb Coe said: “As preparations for the World Athletics Road Running Championships have evolved it has become apparent the event will work better as a single-day event in Riga, both for local organisers and for broadcast. It will also give recreational runners the opportunity to be fully immersed in the day, running before and after our elite runners, and will create the festival atmosphere that we want to see to celebrate road running at every level.” 

UK Athletics has announced the official trial races for one mile and 5K races at the World Road Running Championships will be held on the Great North Run weekend on Friday 8 September.

Any runner who wants the chance to compete at the same event as the best road running exponents in the world can register for the mass mile, 5K, or half marathon at Riga here.

Photo: The Big Half courtesy London Marathon Events Media