How to get into the Cardiff Half

Cardiff Half ballot

Cardiff has two ballots, one for UK runners and one international. The 2027 ballots ran October 1 to 18, 2026, and results went out by email in batches on October 22. Entering is free, but you give card details, and the fee is taken only if you are drawn. If that payment fails, the place goes to another applicant.

The 2027 fee is £59 in the UK ballot and £70 in the international ballot, plus a Let's Do This booking fee. Let's Do This listed the ballot at £62.54 to £74.20 with fees. The UK fee was £58 for 2026.

Only the international ballot takes teams, of up to three runners. Only the lead booker goes into the draw, so a team does not raise the odds, but a drawn lead booker gets places for the whole team. Ever-presents, runners who have finished every Cardiff Half since 2003, get a place even if not drawn by emailing proof of their finishes after the results.

Cardiff Half ballot odds

The 2025 race sold out within hours, so Run 4 Wales moved to a ballot for 2026. The 2026 ballot drew about five applications for every place, according to the official entry page.

Run 4 Wales has not published applicant or place numbers for either ballot, only the ratio. More than 30,000 runners were registered across the 2026 race weekend, a count that includes the junior races, according to Welsh press.

Skip-the-ballot bundles and Welsh Athletics places

Bundles paired a guaranteed Cardiff place with a second Run 4 Wales race. Each had 500 tickets, and all three sold out for 2027. Bundle tickets cannot be transferred.

Welsh Athletics members had 1,500 discounted places, first come, first served. Once those went, members could still enter the UK ballot at the full fee.

Cardiff Half charity places

The NSPCC is the lead charity. Its skip-the-ballot place costs £40 with a £300 pledge and opened with the ballot. The race's charity list showed it as sold out in November 2026.

The four associate charities are Alzheimer's Society, Cancer Research Wales, Mind and Tŷ Hafan, and about 60 more charities list places. Their registration opened on results day, October 22, 2026, and the race's registration deadline is September 1, 2027. You apply to the charity, and it sets its own fee and pledge.

A runner with their own ballot place can fundraise for any charity. Fundraisers for the lead, associate and chosen charities also get the Fundraiser Gold Card, with food and drink offers on race weekend.

Cardiff Half tour operators

Runners not drawn can buy a guaranteed entry through an approved tour operator. Operator registration opened on results day, October 22, 2026, and runs to the September 1, 2027 deadline. The race lists operators in more than 30 countries. Marathon Tours & Travel is the official lead travel partner from 2027, with offices in the UK, the US and Australia.

Marathon Tours' UK office sells the entry only with its hotel package: three nights, October 1 to 4, 2027, at Hotel Indigo Cardiff, with extra nights available. Its 2027 rates were not yet published in November 2026. Its US page lists the entry as an extra cost on top of the package.

The two US operators that publish prices, for 2026, sold hotel packages with the entry as an add-on: $1,450 with a $300 deposit (Fitness International Travel) and $1,445 with a $500 deposit (Coddiwomple Travel). No operator page lists a bib-only option, a payment schedule or cancellation terms. The race lists no charity-plus-travel package.

Cardiff and the SuperHalfs

Cardiff is one of the six SuperHalfs Originals, with Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen and Valencia. A free SuperPassport records each finish: you add its number when you register. Finish all six, in any order and with no time limit, and you get the SuperMedal. Only the October Cardiff races count.

The passport gives no guaranteed entry, so passport holders enter the ballot. Three codes reach Cardiff without it. SuperHalfs charity places, sold through realbuzz, carry a code that cuts the fee to £0.00. SuperVouchers, sold only in 2023 and valid for 36 months from the first race, work the same way. Back on Track sends a time-limited paid entry code to runners with at least two finishes and no series race for two years, chosen automatically with the longest wait first.

SuperHalfs Europa starts in 2027 with Napoli, Warsaw, Belgrade, Vienna, Riga and Stockholm. It has its own SuperMedal on the same passport, only finishes from 2027 count, and races do not combine across the two series.

Cardiff Half refunds, transfers and deferral

Entries cannot be deferred to another year or another event. Ballot entries are non-refundable except for serious health issues and pregnancy. Other entries have a 14-day cooling-off refund, then no refunds unless you bought Refund Protect.

A place can be gifted free to another runner through Let's Do This until the transfer deadline, using the Booking ID. The 2026 deadline was 4 p.m. on August 19, 2026, about six weeks before race day. The 2027 date has not been announced. Pregnant entrants can cancel until that deadline for a credit valid for two years.