After running the TCS London Marathon earlier this year, I found out London Marathon Events also organised its little brother, the Big Half, so I could not miss my chance to enter it and experience it this September.
The UK is blessed with a great running culture, with a lot of companies organising races from 5K to Marathon distance all over the country most weeks, so we seldom have problems finding a place to meet our kind and get a proper, chipped time to measure our progress. But there is something about mass events alongside world-class landmarks that makes these 3 special. The Big Half is one of a series of major half marathons organised in the capital, alongside London Landmarks (I’m in for 2024), Royal Parks, Hackney Half and Richmond Runfest, among others. But it has something special to its name: it’s organised by the same company that organises the London marathon (and Brighton marathon now) and it nearly exactly matches the (part of) the route of its bigger brother.
It is also, probably, the largest one when it comes to attendance. This has benefits and disadvantages, as I will write below.
The slogan and vibe the Big Half goes by is We Run as One and the thinking behind it is explained on its website. I think it is pretty effective in conveying the community event spirit it has and in attempting to convey that anyone can do this. Not only in terms of ability, but also identity. This is London after all, regardless of the broader climate in the country, we are an inclusive and welcoming city.
Training ahead of the Big Half 2023
The race was not long after I completed the ASICS London 10K and the Fix Events Richmond Park 5K, so in terms of training you can see how ready I was comparing the narrative in those two write ups.
In nutshell, my summer of running was not good. I think I have reached the bottom of my running slump and I am slowly trying to crawl out of it.
The chart to the right, taken from excellent Runalyze, is showing my weekly volume during July and August, up to the Big Half on the first Sunday of September.
It is clearly not enough to ‘race’ a Half Marathon, but enough to join and suffer through it in a slightly less than excruciating way.
I tried to get through this cycle using adaptive training plans on TrainasOne. The tool is good and I have used it successfully before. However, its main strength, flexibility, is also its main weakness when you are fighting with motivation and trying to build a routine again. Going forward, I will give Runna a try. It is more rigid and that is probably what I need.
Back to the Big Half then.
Travel and Start Area
It is a very big event taking place in Central London so two things should be clear: it is messy, involving a lot of logistics. And you should forget about driving to the start and use the excellent public transport we have in London.
The start line is North of the river, a few 100 metres East of Tower Hill and the organisers put in place a comprehensive wave system letting everyone know when to arrive and where to arrive. The latter is important: similarly to the way they organise the London Marathon, they have more than one meeting point. In this case 2: North and South. Everyone is told what their allocated meeting point is and you are supposed to go there, no exception.
The North assembly point is just outside Tower Hill tube station, the South one is on the other side of Tower Bridge. I don’t know what happens if you go to the wrong one, you probably just have to beg staff to let you walk across and might not be able to have access to your bag drops. Don’t try it.
If you are lucky enough to have been assigned the North one, you just have to reach Tower Hill tube station and that will be a relatively simple endeavour from anywhere in London.
If you are not from London, or even if you are, seconds after you step out of the tube station, you are captured by the vibe of the events and the special locations it covers. The former, because of the huge amount of people there, all runners like you trying for a PB or tackling their first HM and terrified at the idea.
The special location is easy, you get out and are immediately faced with an incredible landmark. No one is betting beheaded here today, but many might suffer. A bit.
Just a minute walk from the station exit you see the signs for bag drop. After a long but fast queue, you leave your dedicated (and tagged) bag to the guys there who throw it into a series of minivans that will bring it to Greenwich. Similar approach to the one used for the London Marathon, but in this case it is mini vans and not massive dedicated trucks.
Again, a couple of minutes walk towards Tower Bridge, you find the first and main batch of start line toilets. Those are really really busy, so I did not even try. If you keep walking a bit more to the area where they stop runners of waves not being called yet, there will be another stretch of port-a-loos. Still ridiculously long lines, but slightly more manageable.
This was my first gripe with the organisation: definitely not enough toilets in the start area and waves were called in a very quiet way. If you are queuing, you won’t hear your wave being called. I was in a mid wave, then headed towards the marshals when I thought my waves would be called and found myself in the general, huge group of ‘kind of everyone’. It was definitely not that late yet, because they were still holding back late waves, but by the time we reached the start line, it was clear we were the last group to go and only 3hr+ pacers were left.
Not a major issue, besides having to run an overtaking race for about 10K. Since I was definitely not in good enough a shape to challenge my barely respectable sub 2 PB, I guess it did not affect me too much. But the zig zag and overtaking did make things a bit more difficult early on. And it probably led me to over-extend during the first 5k at least. I did have my best 5K time in 6 months and that did not bode well with late race exhaustion.
The Big Half 2023: the Course
The course mostly covers the East section of the London Marathon route, in reverse. Not from the start, but from about 10Km onwards, on the bigger brother route. This includes some of the major landmarks, especially Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and the Cutty Sark. So, if you have not had (yet) the honour to go through the prime 26.1 in the Capital, this gives you a chance to experience the incredible feelings of running through Tower Bridge.
If you have done it already, I have to say this route works only in part. The highlights it hits are absolutely great, but it does frontload a lot of the exciting bits, then it leaves runners with 8/9K of relatively boring environment after Tower Bridge and before entering Greenwich at the very end. And end on an absolute high by the Cutty Sark.
Final comparison: one thing that make the Cutty Sark segment during the London Marathon unique is that you run around her on 3 sides. Here you only reach it. The visuals are still awesome, but the emotional impact is not comparable to the real thing.
A Relive route plot can be found on my YouTube channel as a Short. The full video highlights are also available on the channel and embedded below.
Obviously, given how central it is and the fact it is all on closed roads, the surface is excellent. Nearly paved all through, with the exception of decent cobblestone on a short section in Wapping. Congestion is usually ok, even if very busy. However, if you end up starting from the back like I did, the first 5K and more were busy but manageable. There are no tight switchbacks.
The Big Half route is pretty flat. Just 80 metres of elevation gain over 21K, according to the Strava plot on the left.
It starts very quickly on a noticeable descent, all the way to the tunnel.
Then, after you managed to get out of the tunnel without boiling, you climb back up eventually ending in Canary Wharf.
From here, it is a net descent to the end, with a few bumps here and there.
Conditions on the day were not great: starting late it was nearly 10am by the time I got going and it was really hot under the sun. Humidity was ok, except under the tunnel sauna, but in general, it was hot. Hot enough that sweating was above average and there was only one station offering any drink other than water. Which meant salt depletion and cramps towards the end. I had not had cramps in a race after my first marathon in Manchester a while ago, so this was an unpleasant surprise.
Finally, in terms of supporters and cheering along the route, it is ok(ish). Compared to the London Marathon or even to one of the big central London 10Ks, it is mediocre, with long stretches of road with no people and most noise concentrated around the major landmarks and in the Wapping area.
Music and entertainment is also pretty sparse, I think I counted only 3 bands along the route.
Once you get started, you go East in a straight line. Enthusiasm and spectators will push you, overtaking while conserving energy, finding a few people roughly aiming for your own target pace: it’s all good fun. And it is slightly descending, so it feels even easier than it should. I definitely overdid it and I am sure I was not the only one.
Not much to see in terms of visuals here, but it is probably less than 2K before you approach the Limehouse Tunnel. At the beginning, it is kind of fun, with runners shouting, people enjoying the way down, the light changing. Then I realised we were not going out using the early left turn inside the tunnel, but going straight past the Wharf… and we ended up running for nearly 1 mile underground. On at hot, high 20s day. With no fresh air down there. It was really really really hot.
Eventually we saw the light at the end for tunnel.
Literally.
Since you are coming out of a tunnel, you are obviously climbing here, but it was probably the first time in my running adventures that I welcomed a climb. The sun outside was hot, but the air was moving. There was a mild breeze. We could breath again, drenched in sweat, not even 5K through the race. Fun 🙂
Once you get out, after treasuring a few breaths of not-stale air, I was seized by two conflicting feelings. One: a pleasant view of Canary Wharf to my left. I kind of hate the place, but it does look good if you don’t have to work there. And the other: dread looking at the urban motorway you are running along for a while. Not long, though.
Soon we will turn right on a slip way, descend and turn right again to approach Billingsate Market, swoop around a roundabout worthy of Milton Keynes and then right again to climb towards Canary Wharf and the 3-mile marker. I think the first water station was also here and it was very very welcome. I would usually drink this early in a half marathon, but in this weather, I had no doubts and grabbed the little plastic bottle.
The climb into the Wharf is neither steep, nor long. Very much something you can easily run up and, somehow, I was glad to reach the area.
Spectator density, noise and ‘party atmosphere’ is also increasing significantly around here, for the first time since the start area.
The Canary Wharf stretch is one of the least liked of the London Marathon route. Probably because it comes around the 20 miles mark, but also because the area is very much a hate it or tolerate it one among Londoners. I used to work here, so I tend towards the latter. Finally, the marathon doesn’t only cover the ‘coolish skyscrapers part, but also a long loop across the (boring) South portion of the Isle of Dogs. For the Big Half, you thankfully get to skip it.
Once you get to the Wharf, you cross the 5K timing mats pretty soon, then turn left towards Bank Street, loop back quickly towards Canary Wharf station again and then soon turn left again to go under the DLR bridge and towards the exit form the Estate. It is actually a pretty pleasant running environment with varied visuals. And the crowds are great here. Comparable in numbers and noise levels to the ones I experienced during the TCS bigger brother.
After the Wharf, you start looping back towards Tower Bridge. It is following a different route for a while and, I might be wrong, but I think the Big Half spends a bit more time in Limehouse and Wapping than the full marathon does. I actually kind of enjoyed this part. It is not a part of London with incredible beauty or memorable sights, but it is interesting and has been redeveloped in a pleasant way over the last decade. Gentrification at play, I guess. The picture of the Shard across the water at the end of this section is taken from this area.
Shortly after crossing the 10K timing mats, you rejoin the main road you used to go East after the start and start running the short two-way stretch that will get you back to the Tower of London.
I don’t think it is more than 1 or 2 KM at this point before you start hearing noise building up again and excitement takes hold.
The Tower roundabout is in sight and immediately you are welcomed by the beautiful Tower Bridge. Opposite direction compared to the London marathon.
Running the Bridge during the Big Half gave me nearly the same feelings I got when I did it during the marathon. This race is probably worth entering just for this experience. Truly, it is magic.
On the other end, you descend into the Borough area, but you will soon turn left and start going East.
As you can see from the route map above, there are few turns here, but they are very wide and gentle, so the distinct feeling I got was similar to running 10K in a straight line.
Under the sun.
With limited crowd support.
Yeah, this part is not fun. At all.
I did not notice Southwark Park that much, then I noticed the Rotherhithe loop and its mild climb, before starting another long straight towards Greenwich.
Greenwich kind of arrives as a surprise, not a gentle adaptation of surroundings as it happened when approaching it from East during the marathon. But the last km is a party with the locals and other people who came from the Big Mile or to welcome friends and family completing the race. It’s a beautiful area, it was a glorious day and suddenly I saw the Cutty Sark in front. I had done it, even if in a terrible time. This was actually the slowest half marathon I had run; not because of the course, because of my condition and, in part, the weather.
That said, I actually managed to sprint finish and pass a few people (after taking a picture).
As I said above, disappointingly, the finish line is before the Cutty Sark, but at leat you see it in front of you as you arrive and after you are channeled to the very long post-run routine.
Eventually, if you need to get your bag back and want to pick up a medal and the finisher t-shirt, you will end up in Greenwich Park and can enjoy some well deserved rest and, if you are not floored and nauseous, some pretty interesting food trucks.
Time to gloat and share the bling.
The medal is a bit weird, but fairly nice and it is nicely presented by a volunteer individually, which is a nice touch.
There is no the ‘goody bag’, just water and some small protein bars, to replenish your energy storage. Then it is time to lay down on the grass and collapse for a while. With one more half marathon under the belt. Slow, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?
Facilities
Mass participation running events can be huge and difficult to manage, taking over large chunks of cities and often mixing in runners, supporters and annoyed locals. Logistics must be pretty daunting, but small inefficiencies can make or break the experience for amateur runners who spent months training ahead of the event.
Lets go over my thoughts about the main items that can affect the experience then:
- Transport to start line: easy given location
- Start area(s): not overcrowded, but facilities and organisation could have been better
- Kit drop: quick and efficient
- Start area toilets: not enough
- Waves system: chaotic
- Start section: congested
- Course: nice and scenic, but the second half can be a bit boring
- Toilets: enough on the course, but always busy
- Water stations: enough and it was a very hot day
- Gels: None, but one station had Lucozade
- Finish line: beautiful location, efficient setting, a bit too much walking
- Bling: decent finisher medal in 2023
- Finisher T-shirt: nothing special
- Finisher refreshments: not much, but nice food trucks in the finish area in Greenwich park
The Big Half 2023 – Video Highlights
I have prepared video highlights that I hope you will also enjoy. I do this for most of my races and parkrun events I attend, it’s a fun hobby for me. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I am very far from monetising it, but it is always nice to see someone appreciates it..
If you enjoyed this report or the highlights, you can find a list of my parkrun reports here and other race reports here.
Conclusions
I read an article describing the Big Half as ‘the worst bits of the London Marathon’ put together into a half marathon. While there is some truth in it and the long stretches between major landmarks can be dreadful, it is probably pretty unkind and unfair. The atmosphere is not extreme and unforgettable, but it is still pretty great and some of the landmarks are worth the race in themselves.
It is a great race and well worth a go at it, if not more. I don’t know when I will enter it again, but I am pretty sure I will, eventually.
Did you run as well? Let me know your thoughts!
Do you want to run it, but think you cannot? Let’s chat, anyone can do it, really!
Excellent read! I learned something new today. Visit us:- https://br.linkedin.com/in/ver%C3%B4nica-dantas
Olá, o meu nome é Wilson, sou da cidade de São Paulo no Brasil. Pretendo participar nessa corrida em 2025. Muito obrigado pelas dicas. Sucesso. Um abraço