Running & triathlon

Running in
the UK.

A dense, year-round calendar — city marathons, village 10Ks, parkruns every Saturday, and a triathlon scene that runs from pool sprints to full distance.

547 running races and 47 triathlons and multisport events, across 75 counties.

594
Events
75
counties
Find a run club in the UK (50) →

What it is actually like to run there

Eleven years of daily records at London, not a seasonal generalisation. "Warm mornings" counts the share of days starting at or above 24°C — the point where heat stops being a detail and starts setting your pace for you.

Month by month at London

Monthly running conditions at London
Month Avg high Avg low Rain days Warm mornings
January 7.6°C 1.8°C 11.6 0%
February 9.1°C 2.7°C 12 0%
March 11.1°C 3.9°C 11.9 0%
April 14.2°C 5.1°C 9.2 0%
May 17.6°C 8.6°C 10.8 0%
June 21.2°C 12°C 10.4 0%
July 22.8°C 14.2°C 10.4 0%
August 22.4°C 13.9°C 9.2 0%
September 19.6°C 11.6°C 11.2 0%
October 15.5°C 8.9°C 11.4 0%
November 11.1°C 5.4°C 11.9 0%
December 9.3°C 4.4°C 11.7 0%

Hottest: Jul

Averaging 22.8°C by day, 14.2°C overnight.

Easiest: Jan

The coolest month, averaging 7.6°C.

Wettest: Feb

Rain on about 12 days in an average month.

Original data The UK Race Index Every researched guide for the UK in one dataset — the flattest and hilliest courses with a published elevation figure, real charity-place minimums, and the whole calendar month by month.

By county

41 London 39 running · 2 triathlon 30 Hertfordshire 30 running 27 Kent 26 running · 1 triathlon 24 North Yorkshire 23 running · 1 triathlon 22 Cumbria 20 running · 2 triathlon 20 West Yorkshire 18 running · 2 triathlon 16 Devon 15 running · 1 triathlon 14 Derbyshire 14 running 13 Dorset 12 running · 1 triathlon 13 Hampshire 12 running · 1 triathlon 12 Greater Manchester 11 running · 1 triathlon 12 Powys 12 running 11 Cheshire 8 running · 3 triathlon 11 Cornwall 11 running 11 Lancashire 11 running 11 Suffolk 11 running 10 Berkshire 9 running · 1 triathlon 10 Buckinghamshire 9 running · 1 triathlon 10 Highland 9 running · 1 triathlon 10 Oxfordshire 8 running · 2 triathlon 10 Surrey 9 running · 1 triathlon 9 Cambridgeshire 6 running · 3 triathlon 9 East Sussex 7 running · 2 triathlon 9 Gloucestershire 6 running · 3 triathlon 9 Gwynedd 5 running · 4 triathlon 9 West Sussex 9 running 8 Essex 7 running · 1 triathlon 8 Nottinghamshire 6 running · 2 triathlon 8 Somerset 7 running · 1 triathlon 7 Argyll and Bute 7 running 7 Bedfordshire 6 running · 1 triathlon 7 Northamptonshire 7 running 7 Scottish Borders 7 running 7 Shropshire 6 running · 1 triathlon 7 West Midlands 7 running 6 Aberdeenshire 6 running 6 County Antrim 6 running 6 Monmouthshire 6 running 6 Norfolk 6 running 6 Northumberland 6 running 6 Perth and Kinross 6 running 6 Swansea 5 running · 1 triathlon 6 Worcestershire 6 running 5 Belfast 5 running 5 Bristol 5 running 5 Cardiff 5 running 5 County Down 5 running 5 East Riding of Yorkshire 5 running 5 Edinburgh 5 running 5 Glasgow 4 running · 1 triathlon 5 Lincolnshire 5 running 5 Merseyside 5 running 5 South Yorkshire 5 running 5 Staffordshire 4 running · 1 triathlon 5 Tyne and Wear 5 running 5 Wiltshire 5 running 4 Dumfries and Galloway 4 running 4 Leicestershire 4 running
3 Pembrokeshire 1 running · 2 triathlon
2 County Londonderry 2 running
2 Isle of Anglesey 1 running · 1 triathlon
2 Moray 2 running
2 Stirling 2 running
2 Warwickshire 2 triathlon
1 Bridgend 1 running
1 Caerphilly 1 running
1 Conwy 1 running
1 East Lothian 1 running
1 Falkirk 1 running
1 Isle of Wight 1 running
1 Rhondda Cynon Taf 1 running
1 Shetland Islands 1 running
1 South Ayrshire 1 running
1 Vale of Glamorgan 1 running
1 West Lothian 1 running

Coming up in UK

Great North 5K Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Richmond RunFest 10K Kew, London, UK Thames Path Challenge Fulham, London to Henley-on-Thames Bewl Water Half Marathon Lamberhurst, Kent Bewl Water 10K Lamberhurst, Kent Bewl Water Marathon Lamberhurst, Kent

Triathlon in UK

T100 London London, UK New Forest Middle Distance Ringwood, Hampshire, UK Ironman Wales Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK Ironman Leeds Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Outlaw Original Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, UK Cotswold113 Ashton Keynes, Cotswold Water Park, Gloucestershire, UK Ironman 70.3 Bolton Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK Ironman 70.3 Weymouth Weymouth, Dorset, UK Grafman Middle Distance Grafham, Cambridgeshire, UK Cowman Triathlon Emberton, Buckinghamshire, UK Triathlon y Bala — Legend Bala, Gwynedd, Wales, UK Wimbleball Middle Distance Brompton Regis, Exmoor, Somerset, UK Chester Triathlon Chester, Cheshire, UK Royal Windsor Triathlon Windsor, Berkshire, UK Hever Castle Triathlon & Multisport Festival Hever, near Edenbridge, Kent, UK St Neots Triathlon St Neots, Cambridgeshire, UK Blenheim Palace Triathlon Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK Cheshire Triathlon Nantwich, Cheshire, UK Thorpe Park Triathlon Chertsey, Surrey, UK IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire Staffordshire, UK Warwickshire Triathlon Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK Stratford Triathlon Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK Henley Triathlon Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK Grafham Triathlon Grafham, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK York Triathlon York, UK The Bedford Triathlon Bedford, UK Shropshire Triathlon Ellesmere, Shropshire, UK Glasgow Triathlon Glasgow, Scotland, UK Big East Triathlon Maldon, Essex, UK Cotswold Classic Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon & Multisport Festival Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire, UK Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon Hampton, Richmond upon Thames, London, UK Helvellyn Triathlon Glenridding, Cumbria IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea Swansea, Wales Slateman Triathlon Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales Sandman Triathlon Newborough Forest, Isle of Anglesey, Wales The Brutal Extreme Triathlon Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales Outlaw Half Nottingham Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham Long Course Weekend Wales Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales Brighton & Hove Triathlon Hove, East Sussex THE ROC England Lakeside, Windermere, Cumbria THE ROC Scotland Kinlochleven, Highland THE ROC Wales Abersoch, Gwynedd Wild Boar Triathlon Mallards Pike, Cinderford, Gloucestershire Eastbourne Triathlon Eastbourne, East Sussex Ilkley Triathlon Ilkley, West Yorkshire Dartmouth Triathlon Blackpool Sands, near Strete, Dartmouth, Devon

Running here as a visitor

The hardest part of training somewhere new isn't the route — it's not knowing anyone. This is who is in the UK over the next three months: runners who live here, and runners passing through. the UK is big enough that the county pages are the more useful place to look — "somewhere in UK next week" doesn't help anyone arrange a run.

Checking who's in the UK…

Running in UK: the long reads

The things a race listing can't tell you — what the conditions actually cost you, where people really run, what to carry, and what running is like in every county on the map. 8 guides, 51 minutes of reading.

The conditions

What eleven years of records show about running here — and why the constraint that actually shapes a British year is daylight rather than the weather everyone complains about.

Britain's Real Running Constraint Isn't Rain, It's Daylight London records rain on about 132 days a year and, in eleven years of records, has never averaged a start-line temperature at or above 24°C in any month. Britain is almost never heat-limited or rain-limited. What genuinely constrains running here is daylight: London gets under eight hours at the winter solstice and Edinburgh under seven. 7 min read

Racing here

How the British year is shaped across four distinct seasons of racing, and how entry really works — the ballots, the sell-outs, affiliation and Good For Age.

The British Racing Calendar: How the Year Is Actually Shaped The British year has four distinct seasons of racing: cross country and winter ultras from November to February, the spring marathon peak in April, a summer of fell, trail and multi-day racing, and a fast autumn of half marathons in September and October. Almost nothing fast happens in midsummer, and almost nothing long happens in midwinter — except deliberately. 6 min read How to Enter UK Races: Ballots, Sell-Outs, Affiliation and Good For Age Most British races are first come, first served rather than ballots — the constraint is remembering to enter, not luck. UKA affiliation through a club saves about £2 on most entries. The races that genuinely sell out fast are the ultras: Centurion open entries roughly eleven months ahead and fill in minutes. 6 min read

Where to run

Fells, national trails, London and every region of the country — more variety per mile than anywhere in Europe, and what each part is actually good for.

Fell Running and the British Mountains: What Makes It Different Fell running is a distinctly British discipline: unmarked routes across open mountain, navigation as the runner's responsibility, minimal support and no course marking. It is not trail running with hills in it. The steepest race on this site, the Old County Tops, carries 270ft of climb per mile across 37 Lakeland miles. 6 min read Running Britain's National Trails: The Long Paths and the Races on Them Britain's national trails are the backbone of its ultra calendar. The South Downs Way carries Centurion's 50 and 100, the Ridgeway carries Race to the Stones and the 86-mile Ridgeway Challenge, the Cleveland Way carries the whole Hardmoors series, and the Pennine Way carries the Spine. 6 min read Running in London: Parks, Towpaths and the Races London gives you more traffic-free running than almost any capital: eight royal parks, the Thames Path running the width of the city, a canal network you can follow to the M25, and Richmond Park at 2,500 acres. There are 38 races and dozens of parkruns in the city, including the one where parkrun was invented. 5 min read Running in Britain Region by Region: What Each Part Actually Offers Britain packs more variety into a small island than anywhere in Europe: chalk downland in the South East, coast path in the South West, fells in Cumbria, gritstone in the Peak, mountains in Wales and Scotland, and flat fen in the East. London and the South East carry the densest race calendar; the North West and Wales carry the hardest. 10 min read

Triathlon and open water

A scene with an unusually gentle way in and an unusually severe top end — from leisure-centre pool sprints to a triathlon that finishes up Snowdon.

Triathlon in Britain: The Water, the Scene and the Races British triathlon has an unusually gentle entry point and an unusually severe top end. Pool-based sprints get beginners in without open water at all, while Helvellyn finishes with a mountain summit and the Brutal climbs Snowdon after a full-distance bike. British water sits around 12-18°C in season, so a wetsuit is near-universal. 5 min read

Common questions

How many races are there in the UK?

Verus currently lists 547 running races and 47 triathlon and multisport events in the UK, across 75 counties.

What is the weather like for running in the UK?

Based on eleven years of daily records at London, the hottest month averages 22.8°C by day and the coolest 7.6°C. The wettest month sees rain on about 12 days. Mornings are generally cool enough to run at any time of day.

Can I find people to run with in the UK?

Yes — Verus athletes list the town they are from, so this page shows who is already here. If you are travelling, adding your own location means runners here can find you too.

Add yourself to UK All races