This weekend, more than 15,000 people will participate in The Vitality Big Half, a brand new one-day festival centred on the half marathon distance. This fantastic celebration of physical activity and sport will include a series of events such as:
- The Vitality Big Half: a half marathon starting next to Tower Bridge and finishing at the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
- The Little Half: a fun, family friendly mass participation event for all ages and abilities. 4,000 people will set off from Southwark Park on a 2.4 mile course joining the Big Half route and finishing at the Cutty Sark.
- The Big Relay: open to community groups from the host boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich. Participants will run in teams of four, with each person taking on a leg over distances raging from one mile to five miles.
- The Vitality Big Festival: a free celebration of London’s diverse culture, food and music, which will take place throughout the day in Greenwich Park.
World class athletes in the elite races
The Vitality Big Half will also feature a top international elite field and wheelchair racers. Londoner Sir Mo Farah will take on the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon champion Daniel Wanjiru and Scotland’s Callum Hawkins who came fourth in last summers World Championship Marathon.
The female race is set to be a Battle of Britain. Lily Partridge who won the Seville Half Marathon recently with the record time 71 minutes and 9 seconds. Charlotte Purdue, who is preparing for the London Marathon, will be on the start line along with Alyson Dixon and Sonia Samuels – who are both running the marathon at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.
In the wheelchair race British legend David Weir will renew his rivalry with Marcel Hug. The Weirwolf pipped Hug to victory in a stunning sprint finish at last year’s Virgin Money London Marathon. Hug’s Swiss compatriot Manuela Schar – the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon champion and course record holder – headlines the elite women’s wheelchair field where she will face British Paralympian Jade Jones.
London Sport team joins community groups in The Vitality Big Half
The 4,000 people running for community groups will be joined by 15 members of London Sport staff and 22 partners of London Sport, practising what we preach in our ambition to get one million Londoners more active by 2020 and demonstrating the sustained commitment of our team to make this happen.
