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A staggering 15,000 runners will pull on their trainers and compete in the biggest BTR Liverpool Half Marathon the city has seen.
Race day is this coming Sunday (15 March), with a later race time of 9.30am to allow runners an extra half hour to travel to the new start line of Hill Dickinson Stadium, the new home of Everton Football Club.
Spectators are advised that the Hill Dickinson Stadium concourse muster area is for runners only.
The finish line will remain at Pier Head Liverpool, set against the iconic backdrop of the Three Graces and under the gaze of the world-famous Liver Birds. Runners and spectators will enjoy a new event village post race.
The event also features 500 runners taking part in the 11th staging of the BTR 10 Mile Road Race. Both races start at the same time.
The first four miles of the route have also been revised to take in more of the city centre and landmarks including Liverpool Town Hall, the Chinese Arch, and Liverpool Cathedral.
The latter part of the course has also been changed. Runners will no longer head through Otterspool Park and onto The Promenade. Instead, they will make their way back from Sefton Park and Princes Park along Princes Road and Upper Parliament Street, before taking in Queens Wharf and Halftide Wharf, then joining the usual route at King’s Dock for the home straight along the waterfront to the finish line at Pier Head Liverpool.
Runners, spectators, local residents, and visitors are encouraged to plan their travel arrangements in advance given the number of people expected to descend on the city centre.
First staged in 1994, the race is one of the longest established premier road races in the region, and is a real highlight in the North West running calendar. And for the last two years the race has sold out at 12,000 places.
A new start line and updated course has enabled organisers BTR Liverpool to release a further 3,000 places to take the race to the next level. The extra places sold out in one hour.
BTR Liverpool is the leading organisation for creating, managing, and delivering headline running events across Liverpool City Region.
North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) is the event’s Official Charity Partner. Since its launch in 1999, NWAA has been called to more than 45,000 missions – an average of around seven times a day.
This year, the charity has almost 100 runners taking part to raise funds – and collectively over £19,000 has already been raised.
North West Air Ambulance relies solely on fundraising and donations to save lives – and it must raise over £18million every year to continue its vital service. The team will be attending the race with charity runners and volunteers.
To support the work of the NWAA by fundraising or donating visithttps://www.justgiving.com/campaign/liverpoolhalfmarathon2026
Stage hosts are BTR event familiar faces Graeme White and Claire Simmo, who will entertain runners and spectators at both the start line and finish line stages.
The Lord Mayor Of Liverpool, Councillor Barbara Murray, has the honour of officially starting the race from its new start line.
Two ever present runners who have already completed all 32 previous Liverpool Half Marathon events are returning once again to maintain their impressive record. They are Jamie Doolan from Liverpool and Stephen Symons from Manchester.
Jamie is a 55-year-old nurse from Broadgreen. He has completed more than 30 marathons – no mean feat after being told he would struggle to walk due to a problem with his legs at birth. He went on to have them straightened with splints, then aged 21 had pins inserted to strengthen his right ankle.
Sixty-year-old Stephen runs for Quays Running Club in Manchester. Despite suffering a brain haemorrhage in November 2012, he still completed the next half marathon race in March 2013 accompanied by family. He has since fully recovered and continues to take part each year.
The most senior male runners in the half marathon are 78-year-old Stan Cottier from Liverpool, Peter Simpson aged 78 from Ormskirk, and 79-year-old Tom Knowles from Liverpool; and representing the females are 74-year-old Christine Bonner from Widnes, Anne Coles aged 75 from Yorkshire, and 80-year-old Sue Nicholls from Somerset.
In the 10-miler, the most senior males are Thomas Burke from Liverpool and Sidney Molyneux from Wirral, both aged 78; and for the females it’s 85-year-old Tracy Davidson from Stroup, and Jacqui Coyle aged 86 from Devon.
The BTR Liverpool Half Marathon event boosts the local economy across race weekend. Hospitality and tourism businesses benefit including bars, restaurants, hotels, retail, and attractions.
The race has attracted participants from across the country and globally, with more than 300 runners travelling from Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Channel Islands, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Jersey, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United States of America.
BTR Liverpool is also supporting eight charities across the 2026 event portfolio – Alder Hey Children’s Charity; Claire House Children’s Hospice; Clatterbridge Cancer Charity; Liverpool Women’s Hospital Charity; Liverpool Zoe’s Place; Mersey Cares; North West Air Ambulance; and Wirral University Teaching Hospital. They will be represented on the day by runners and volunteers.
A team of 200 runners from New Balance are pulling on their trainers, as well as a group of 20 from Everton Football Club. And more than 3,000 runners from UK clubs will compete on race day.
Liverpool drumming band Batala Mersey will return to the event. They will be located at Pier Head Liverpool to spur on runners as they head along the home straight to cross the finish line.
BTR Liverpool is working closely with partners Liverpool City Council, Arriva North West, Merseytravel, Merseyrail, emergency services, and multi-agency planning groups to ensure smooth movement round the city for runners, spectators, local residents, and visitors.
While the new route will accommodate the expansion of the event, it will mean the waterfront, Strand, and Upper Parliament Street North-bound route will be closed a little longer than previous years until 1.30pm.
The event will require the closure of a number of roads and road junctions between 4am and 3pm on Sunday 15 March 2026, all of which will reopen on a rolling basis as the run passes through.
Road closures will begin at 4am around the start/finish (start – Hill Dickinson Stadium, finish – around the Royal Liver Building) on Sunday 15 March, with route closure being implemented from 8.30am.
Arriva North West is operating shuttle buses from Liverpool ONE bus station to Great Howard Street and Blackstone Street. The service will start at 6.30am, with the last bus departing at 9am. The fare is £2 per person.
Merseyrail is operating a number of earlier train services into Liverpool Central, Moorfields, and Sandhills, on the Northern Line and Wirral Line networks.
Alan Rothwell, BTR Founder, commented:
“This weekend we welcome an incredible 15,000 runners and thousands of spectators to experience the biggest ever BTR Liverpool Half Marathon. The event is about to be taken to another level and it’s extremely exciting for everyone involved.
“As our runners cross the new start line at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, they will head out on the course which also has a new route for the first four miles – taking in more sights and sounds of the city along the way.
“Whether runners are competing for a personal best time, pulling on their trainers to raise much-needed funds for inspiring charities, or running socially with friends to enjoy the race and day itself – they all have one thing in common. They are getting out there, staying fit and active, and that’s something we definitely should applaud. Thank you for choosing Liverpool.
“I urge runners and spectators to plan travel arrangements well in advance to make their day as seamless and stress-free as possible. To make the course safe we must close roads and have restricted access in places, but these will be lifted as soon as it is safe to do so. We thank you for your support. And we look forward to welcoming everyone to Liverpool.”
The BTR Liverpool annual calendar of competitive races and fun runs take place between March and December. The portfolio also includes Liverpool Santa Dash, Mersey Tunnel 10K, Port Sunlight Road Race 10K and 5K, Women’s 10K and 5K Liverpool, Wirral 10K, and Run For The 97.
In 2025, BTR Liverpool and its successful portfolio of events was acquired by Run For All. Mass participation events company Run For All is wholly owned by the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, and continues to honour her ongoing legacy.
Full details about BTR Liverpool events visit www.btrliverpool.com
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