Bath Half Marathon postponed for second time in 12 months

The half marathon will now take place on October 16. Credit: ITV West Country

The Bath Half Marathon has been postponed for the second time in 12 months.

The organisers say they have 'reluctantly' decided to push the event back five months until October 16.

It was originally scheduled for March 13 but was subsequently moved to May 29.

The team behind the event says a number of factors made them decide to delay - staff being off with Covid, loss of some key contractors and suppliers and issues arising from the Cleveland Bridge closure.

They say the issues have had a cumulative impact on the small team, meaning they were struggling to get ready in time.

The team has 'reluctantly' decided it is more responsible to postpone the event. Credit: ITV News

But Bath & North East Somerset Council say they are "very surprised and disappointed" to see that the event have postponed again.

A spokesperson said: "Having already worked extremely hard to accommodate a change of route, a change of date, a change of start point, all at the organiser’s request, to enable this event to go forward.

"For the sake of complete clarity, there is no reason at all from the council's perspective why this event should not go ahead. Indeed, although it is a big ask, if any other professional organisation wished to run an event on 29th May, we would work with them to see if it is possible.

"Again, to be clear, the date of October 16th the organisers refer to as an alternate has not been agreed with the council. We are also surprised the organiser is advertising a date next year and is accepting people’s entries without having agreed the 2023 date as possible with the council.

"We know the organiser’s decision will be frustrating to all the people training for the half marathon, and all the charities and good causes relying on the sponsorship."

A spokesperson for Bath Half Marathon said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused because of the postponement. 

"We know many of you personally and know how hard everyone trains every year for the event and are genuinely sorry for the disappointment caused. 

"After two years of dealing with the impact of the pandemic, this was absolutely not what we wanted to happen. We know you’ve missed the Bath Half and so have we.

"We have loved planning and delivering the event since 2000.  We all want to get ‘back to normal’ and the Bath Half Marathon is a reminder of so much that is good about the city and the people that live here and we now look forward to returning on 16 October."

  • Registered entrants will be emailed with details of deferment or refund options.