Stafford Half Marathon
The Lowdown
The Stafford Half Marathon is an annual road race through the historic county town of Stafford, Staffordshire, in the English Midlands, organized by Freedom Leisure in partnership with Stafford Borough Council. The 13.1-mile (21.1 km) course starts on Victoria Road in the town centre, winds through the surrounding Staffordshire countryside with two steady climbs (about 127 meters of total elevation gain), and finishes at Victoria Park, where a race village hosts a chip-timed finish, water stations at five points along the route, and a companion one-mile Fun Run. The 2026 edition, held March 22, 2026, drew a record turnout of more than 2,200 half-marathon finishers plus over 300 in the Fun Run, with Lee Gratton (1:05:32) and Saffron Latham (1:20:01) taking the overall titles. There is no on-the-day registration, and runners must hold a minimum pace of 12 minutes per mile to beat the 4:00pm course closure. Based on the race's consistent fourth-Sunday-of-March scheduling (March 23, 2025; March 22, 2026), the next edition is projected for March 28, 2027, with entries expected to open in September 2026; the official 2027 date had not yet been confirmed at the time of writing.
Race Day
Weather Forecast
Elevation
Terrain Profile
Relatively flat course
Participants
Field Size
Medium-sized race
Crowd Rating
Spectator Support
Moderate spectator support
Victoria Road (start)
Victoria Park (finish and race village)
Kingston Hill (7-mile spectator point)
Stafford town centre
Other distances available during the event weekend:
Stafford, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
GB
Average rate for 3-star accommodations near the start line
Eligibility
- Minimum age 17 on race day; under-18 entrants require parental consent
Required Documents
- Valid ID for race number collection
- UK Athletics affiliation number (for the affiliated entry rate only)
Entry Methods
- Online registration via Freedom Leisure / active.com, linked from the official event page
Cancellation & Refund Policy
No explicit refund/deferral policy was published on the official event or terms pages at the time of writing; UK community road races organized by local-authority leisure operators typically treat entry fees as non-refundable but allow free or low-cost transfer to another runner ahead of race day. This is an llm_estimate, flagged low-confidence pending confirmation from the official terms and conditions page.
2026 edition set a record turnout: over 2,200 half-marathon finishers and 300+ Fun Run entrants.
Course closes at 4:00pm; minimum required pace is 12 minutes per mile.
No on-the-day entries or transfers are permitted.
Organized by Freedom Leisure in partnership with Stafford Borough Council.
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Community
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