The Shrewsbury Half & Metric Half Marathon 2024 – Sunday 29th September from 8:30am.

After the tremendous success of the 2023 event, we’re excited to announce the details for 2024!

Early Bird Entry Half Marathon:

£32 (affiliated)
£34 (unaffiliated)

Early Bird Entry Metric Half Marathon (8.1 miles):

£22 (affiliated)
£24 (unaffiliated)

Starting and finishing at The West Mid Showground.

Our beatiful, scenic routes showcase Shrewsbury’s highlights including the Welsh & English Bridge, Kingsland, Porthill, Coleham, The Quarry, Frankwell, and the picturesque town centre with its medieval buildings and unique street names.

Included in your entry:

  • Technical race souvenir t-shirt.
  • Options for ladies or men’s fit finisher t-shirts.
  • Free official race photos.
  • Pacers to help you achieve your target time.
  • Race treats at the finish.
  • A bespoke metal medal to commemorate your achievement.
  • Chip timed results on a measured route.
  • UKA Licenced event.
  • Easy onsite parking.
  • An option to plant a tree instead of receiving a finisher’s t-shirt.

Participants must be at least 17 years old on race day.

Transfers:

Transfers to other runners are accepted up to 23:59 on Sunday 1st September 2024. There are no deferrals.

Contact:
For any enquiries, please reach out to us on info@shrewsburyhalf.com.

What You Need To Know

Half Marathon

You can see the route here on Map My Run or a PDF here.

Or view the route on Garmin Connect here.

For the Half Marathon please follow the yellow high viz signage for the whole race.  You will notice in the 3rd mile some blue signage at the Welsh Bridge, ignore this. Your signage and route is clearly marked with high viz yellow signs with black arrows.

When you return to the Showground, your final mile again is clearly marked with high viz signage with black arrows.  You will see in your final mile blue signage with white arrows. Ignore these, they are the route for the shorter metric half marathon.

The final mile within the showground for the 13.1 mile runners follows the exact same route you used in your first mile but in reverse. You follow the exact same route back in to finish.

Metric Half Marathon

You can see the route here or a PDF version here.

Or see the route on Garmin Connect here

The route signage throughout is high viz yellow signs.  There are two places on the route where Metric Half Marathon runners follow a different route and these will be signed with white arrows on a blue background.

These positions are:

At just before 3 miles into the race at the Welsh Bridge.  Metric Half Marathon runners will run straight through into Victoria Avenue, passing Hickorys Restaurant on your left.  Half Marathon runners will turn right and run over the Welsh Bridge into Frankwell.

Click the link below to see this on a map.

Welsh Bridge Route difference

You can see a video of this here

The second place you must follow the blue signs with white arrows is the final half mile inside the showground.  Your finish has a significant difference to the full half marathon.  You can see this on the map linked below. To reiterate, metric half marathon runners follow the blue signs with white arrows when they return into the showground.

Showground routes to finish

Find out halff marathon training plans here:

Flexible

The below training plans have an option to follow a plan where you train either 3 or 4 times per week. There are no specific days set for you to train, hence these are flexible for you to decide which day suits your schedule.

2 hours – 2 hours 20 minutes
1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hours

The below training plans have an option to follow a plan where you train either 4 or 5 times per week. There are no specific days set for you to train, hence these are flexible for you to decide which day suits your schedule.

1 hour 30 minutes – 1 hour 45 minutes
1 hour 20 minutes – 1 hour 30 minutes

Specific

The below training plans have an option to follow a plan where you train either 3 or 4 times per week. The plans give you sessions to complete on a specific day of the week.

2 hours – 2 hours 20 minutes
1 hour 45 minutes – 2 hours

The below training plan has an option to follow a plan where you train either 4 or 5 times per week. The plan give you sessions to complete on a specific day of the week.

1 hour 30 minutes – 1 hour 45 minutes

Sunday 29th September 2024.

Half Marathon starts at 8:30am, Metric Half starts at 8:55.

We have a cut-off time of 2 hours 45 minutes for the Half Marathon. This is a strict cut-off time due to needing to re-open the Town Centre Roads.

Thus, the Metric Half has a cut off time of 2 hours 20 minutes.

The location for the events is:

The West Mid Showground
Berwick Road
Shrewsbury
SY1 2PF

SAT NAV Post Code: SY1 2PF

Follow local signposts for “Agricultural Showground”.

GETTING HERE BY CAR

Shrewsbury is easily accessible and is linked to the motorway by the A5 and M54. Please see the map for your route planning. For Sat Nav our postcode is: SY1 2PF

BY BUS

The National Express run coaches into Shrewsbury: please call 08705 808080 or go to www.nationalexpress.com

ON FOOT FROM SHREWSBURY TRAIN STATION / TOWN CENTRE

It takes about fifteen minutes to walk from Shrewsbury Railway Station to the West Mid Showground which is signposted the Agricultural Showground.

As you leave the railway station turn right to go under the railway bridge and take a left under another bridge to bring you out onto Chester Street, opposite the Gateway Education and Arts Centre.

Turn right and *keep the river on your left as you head up into Coton Hill. Walk along the river and up to a row of homes on your left, before turning left into the signposted Pig Trough (opposite the Bird In Hand pub) and then left down a set of steps into The Flash.

At the end of The Flash you will reach the West Mid Showground. Alternatively (to avoid the steps) continue along the Pig Trough and take a left turn at the end which will lead you to the main road entrance to the showground about 100 yards along.

FROM SHREWSBURY BUS STATION

Come out of the bus station facing the river and turn right by The Albert pub and the traffic lights. Follow this road along and round to the left and you will come to the Gateway Education and Arts Centre. Walk past the Centre on your left and up alongside the river.

*Directions are as above from this point.

Our 2024 race licences will appear here shortly

There is ample parking for all participants at the Showground. We advise you to arrive from 7:00am for an 8:30am start.

The town centre roads be closed at 8:00am as will Berwick Road leading into the Showground.

Parking is available at the Showground and there is a £3 charge which goes directly to the Shropshire County Showground charity. Please have £3 in change ready when you arrive.

There are 68 toilets on the showground although it’s a 53 acre site and they are spread out. The toilets near the start line get very busy so as part of your warm up jog across to one of the nearby toilets if you want to avoid the queues. They will be well sign posted on the day.

  • Arrive early! (We are ready to welcome you from 7:00am).
  • Fill in your medical information on the back of your bib.
  • Baggage closes at 8:20 so get your bag in if you need to.
  • Please make sure you are fit and well enough to be taking part in the event.
  • Have a change of clothes with you.
  • Don’t try anything new on race day.

The Shrewsbury Half Marathon use a bibtag system, which is attached to your bib number. Please make sure your bib number is pinned to the front of your vest/t-shirt. Your timing chip will activate as you cross the start line.

You must fill in the medical information on the rear of your bib before you arrive at the event. This is essential for your safety because it will be used in an emergency.

You must wear your bib number. If you don’t two things happen. If a Marshall or Race official sees you running with no bib on you will be asked to leave the route immediately. If you do not wear your bib and run you will not get a time registered. If you lose your bib that arrives via post pre-event, then there will be a small number available at registration.

There will be two water stations on the route which you will pass twice each.  These are in Frankwell which you will pass at mile 3 and almost at mile 11.

The second water station is at Barnabus Church.  You will pass this station twice at miles 5 and 8.5.

Half Marathon Pacers will be covering the following times: 1:30, 1:40, 1:50, 2:00, 2:10, 2:20, 2:30, 2:45 which is our tail runner.

Metric Half Marathon pacers will cover: 1:00, 1:10, 1:20, 1:30.

shrewsbury half marathon pacing team wearing their flags

All participants receive race photos to download as part of their race package.  Please go to this link to get your photos for 2023 participants.

2024 participants, check back here after the event for a link to your photos.

All competitors who complete the course will receive a bespoke metal finishers medal.

When you finish, please follow the finish line Marshall’s instructions.

You will be greeted at the finish with your finishers treat bag.

Please note and pass on to your friends and family that spectators will not be able to get into the finishing funnel. We know you have just run a Half Marathon and will likely be feeling tired, but we will ask you to keep moving, pick up your finisher’s items and proceed out of the funnel.

We ask you to do this because there will be a large number of runners coming in just behind you.

If you retire from the race it’s really important that you please let the nearest Marshal to you know and give them your race number. This is so we can account for you at the end of the race.

Go to www.chipresults.co.uk to see your finishing time.

Transfers are available until 4 weeks before race day, closing on Sunday September 1st 2024. To transfer your place go to your sign up email you will have received. Within the email is a link to login to your registration to the race. Here you can amend the entry details.

Please click here for our ts & cs.

Want to join our amazing team and volunteer at the Shrewsbury Half Marathon? We are looking for volunteers who want to support a great event in a variety of roles including marshalling, cheering on our runners and greeting runners at the finish line with medals and high fives!

Click here for more info! 

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