The Freckleton Half Marathon is an annual

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

event held in

Freckleton Freckleton is a village and civil parish on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England, to the south of Kirkham and east of the seaside resort of Lytham St. Annes. In 2001 the parish had a population of 6,045, reducing to 6,019 at the 2011 Census ...

, Lancashire, United Kingdom. The event was the idea of the then chairman of the local sport committee who was inspired by

Ron Hill Ronald Hill MBE (25 September 1938 – 23 May 2021) was a British runner and clothing entrepreneur. He was the second man to break 2:10 in the marathon; he set world records at four other distances, and laid claim to the marathon world record. ...

's performance in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this h ...

, and Ron accepted the invitation to run. Ron won that first race and later described the distance "The half marathon is a great distance, as you can push yourself almost flat out without the risk of blowing up". Ron returned to Freckleton in 2007, aged 70, and wore the race number 65 in honour of the first year. The race provided three of the first six world records at this relatively new

Half Marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

distance, two achieved by Ron Hill in 1965 and 1969, and one by Pete Ravald in 1966. Ben Fish of Blackurn Harriers and Team Fish holds the record for the most wins with a record nine wins in nine years m. The race is probably the oldest continuously running Half Marathon event in the UK, after the demise of the

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

Half Marathon and The Morpeth.

Winners

Year by year:

References

External links

Official website
{{European half marathons Half marathons in the United Kingdom Recurring sporting events established in 1965 1965 establishments in England Sport in the Borough of Fylde