Half marathon could expand

James Kell • Published 19 Nov 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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READING Half Marathon could become an even bigger event after the junction 11 improvements are finished, but organisers say they don't want to ruin a race that runners regard as one of the best in the country.

The number of people taking part has rocketed from 5,000 to 18,000 in just eight years and race director Chris Sumner, from organisers Sweat Shop, said: "We're not intending to let it get any bigger at the moment because we don't want to wreck it.

"When junction 11 is sorted, that might give us some options, but we don't want to take on the Great North Run because 45,000 people just wouldn't fit in Reading.

"It's the second largest half marathon in the country and, as you can imagine, the logistics take a lot of organisation, like 80,000 bottles of water, 450 marshals.

"The other thing that's started is that we're selling out places much earlier. By January last year they were all sold out and people were paying charities £250 to £300 to run. This year it looks like we'll be sold out by the middle of December. We already have 11,000 people signed up." Sweat Shop took over as event organisers from Reading Borough Council in 2001 and Mr Sumner said the key to its success is the grandstand finish at the Madejski Stadium.

He said: "The editor of the Telegraph wrote that he briefly knew what it was like to score the winning goal in an FA Cup final. We have two stands full and there's about 10,000 people, and for a lot of people running they will never get that elsewhere.

"Also you're looking at about £1.5m raised for charity and we donate £80,000-£90,000 to our official charities."

To register to take part in Reading Half Marathon, which is on Sunday, March 21, visit www.readinghalfmarathon.com

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