The 2018 Shrewsbury Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 17th June 2018 on what promises to be an inspiring weekend of running for all ages and abilities.
Kicking off the weekend on Saturday 16th June is the Shropshire Primary Schools Challenge, which will see hundreds of young runners from across the region complete their own half marathon challenge. Together the races will make for a fantastic celebration of running in one of western England’s most picturesque settings.
This year promises to be the biggest and best event yet and organisers UK Run Events, powered by UKRunChat and Breathe Unity, are looking forward to welcoming some 3,000 runners over the course of the two days. Among these, there will be a strong contingent from 110 running clubs including Shropshire Shufflers, Lawley Running Club, Wrekin Road Runners, Telford Harriers, Oswestry Olympians, Shrewsbury AC, Whitchurch Whippets, Bridgnorth Running Club, Telford AC and UKRunChat, plus 52 runners from Shrewsbury School.
Shrewsbury Half Marathon is much loved for offering a perfect combination of history and scenery, the 13.1-mile route taking runners on closed roads through Shrewsbury’s city centre and out into rural Shropshire. The race starts and finishes at Shropshire County Showground, site of the first-class race village, before heading out along the river in the Quarry, through the historic town centre, past hundreds of listed buildings and up the Wyle Cop, the UK’s longest row of uninterrupted independent shops. The second half of the race takes in the beautiful Shropshire countryside which is glorious at this time of year.
UKRunChat race pacers will be helping runners to hit the following target times: 1.30, 1.40, 1.45, 1.50, 1.55, 2.00, 2.05, 2.10, 2.15, 2.30 and 2.40.
The Shrewsbury Half Marathon Corporate Challenge supported by Shrewsbury Business Park will see some friendly rivalry from businesses across the region as they compete against each other in the half marathon race.
The 2017 Shrewsbury Half Marathon was won by David Webb (Telford AC) in 1:08:00 and Belle Ward in 1:31:09.
Shropshire County Showground will also be the venue for the highly anticipated Shropshire Primary Schools Challenge on Saturday 16th June. Here, some 900 children from 21 schools will complete the final 1.1 miles of their own cumulative half marathon which they have been working towards at school over the last few weeks and months. The young runners, aged 4 to 11, will get the full race experience including race bibs, a marshalled route, music and a start and finish line gantry, allowing them to enjoy the thrill of a big sporting event. Friends, family and spectators are all welcome on the morning to cheer on the youngsters and help get race weekend off to a thrilling start.
Key race weekend timings
Saturday 16th June
08:00 Race village opens
09:00 Shropshire Primary Schools Challenge starts
11.30 Race village closes
Sunday 17th June
07:30 Race village and bag drop opens
08:45 Warm-up by Xercise4Less Shrewsbury Gym
08.50 Start pens open
09:00 Shrewsbury Half Marathon starts
10:08 First Half Marathon finisher
11:15 Prize giving
12:30 Race village closes
Additional information on car parking and public transport can be found on the race website at www.shrewsburyhalf.co.uk/directions.
All race day info is available at www.shrewsburyhalf.co.uk/race-information.
Race Director Joe Williams commented, “We are excited that the countdown is now on for the 2018 Shrewsbury Half Marathon and Shropshire Primary Schools Challenge. The whole weekend promises to be an inspiring two days for runners of all ages and abilities and we can’t wait to welcome everyone to their races. We have the support of some amazing sponsors and partners, a wonderful team of volunteers and plenty of fantastic prizes up for grabs, so it really will be a thrilling couple of days.
“A big thank you goes to Shropshire Council for their continued support, and we wish the very best of luck to all runners as they #RunShrewsbury!”
Sponsors of the 2018 Shrewsbury Half Marathon are Up & Running, On, Rybrook Shrewsbury BMW, CS Physio, Optimum Movement, Love2Stay and Original Shrewsbury.
Charity Partners for the event are food bank PLUS, Hope House, Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, DC Charity, Severn Hospice, Shrewsbury Town in the Community, The Harry Johnson Trust, Opportunity Pre-School and The Royal British Legion.
Entries for Shrewsbury Half Marathon close at midnight on Wednesday 13th June, or sooner if sold out.
Competitors should register with Pic2Go in order to receive their free race photos worth £19.99.
Go to www.shrewsburyhalf.co.uk for further details and to register. You can also like the Facebook page @Shrewsburyhalf and follow @ShrewsburyHalf #RunShrewsbury on Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest news.
