The Vitality Big Half is on
The Vitality Big Half, The Big Relay and The Vitality Big Festival will take place as planned on Sunday 4 March.
The safety and wellbeing of our participants, volunteers and staff is our priority and, thanks to the hard work of the operations team, the four host boroughs, The Mayor's Office, TfL and our contractors, helped by the overnight thaw in London, the events will go ahead. A full route inspection was held this morning.
Please note the decision was made yesterday (Friday) to cancel The Little Half (the 2.4 mile fun run for all ages and abilities) due to the conditions in the assembly and start areas in Southwark Park.
The Vitality Big Half is a one-day festival centred around the half-marathon distance, created by London Marathon Events Ltd in partnership with Sported, which aims to be ‘truly global and uniquely local’ in a celebration of the wonderful cultural diversity of the great city of London.
Sir Mo Farah, Callum Hawkins and Daniel Wanjuri head a ‘truly global’ field of elite runners. The ‘uniquely local’ aspect reflects the event’s commitment to working with community groups from the four host boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich and encouraging residents to take part in a mass-participation running event for the first time.
The Vitality Big Half starts by Tower Bridge and finishes in front of the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
The elite races start at 08.55 (wheelchairs) and 09:00 (men and women) and feature top athletes including:
- Sir Mo Farah
- Callum Hawkins
- Daniel Wanjuri
- Alyson Dixon
- Lily Partridge
- Charlotte Purdue
- Marcel Hug
- David Weir CBE
- Manuela Schar
Alongside the elite field there is a uniquely local mass participation event with runners taking on the same 13.1 mile course, including runners from community groups in the host boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets and Southwark.
The event also includes The Vitality Big Festival in Greenwich Park which will bring together the best of the capital’s food, music, sport and exercise, and health and wellbeing.
TELEVISION COVERAGE: Highlights from the elite races will be shown on BBC 2 at 14:45 on Sunday 4 March during the coverage of the World Indoor Championships
Follow the race live via our Twitter channel @theofficialbighalf, on BBC Radio London and 5 Live Sports Extra.
For more information visit www.thebighalf.co.uk