Hospice Run Half Marathon

Race Description

The half marathon is the toughest and most scenic of the Hospice Run's three closed-road distances, sharing the same Lower Common Cricket Ground start as the 10k and 5k before peeling away from them roughly a third of the way round. Rather than staying within the town's landmark loop past the Spa Valley Railway and High Rocks, it drops down into the countryside around Groombridge and Eridge - a rural, more exposed stretch that trades urban scenery for open Kent and East Sussex farmland - before rejoining the tail end of the 10k route for the run back into Tunbridge Wells.

That detour adds a meaningful stretch of extra undulation on top of the climbing already built into the shared section, making it a genuinely demanding half rather than a 10k with extra loops tacked on. As with the shorter distances, every mile is run on fully closed roads and every entry supports Hospice in the Weald's end-of-life and palliative care work across the two counties, with a live drumming band and finisher's medal waiting at the same finish line the whole field shares.

It's the distance favoured by runners already familiar with the shorter routes who want to see more of the surrounding countryside, or anyone targeting a closed-road half where support and organisation are built around a genuinely large field rather than a half marathon running alone. Marking its 20th year in 2026, it's become one of the more established closed-road halves in this part of Kent.