Marathon Events

Phoenix Running is inviting you to join us for a very special Lest We Forget Run on Saturday 7th November 2026 and this year our awesome Unknown Soldier silhouette medal is presented in a brand new antique brass finish. This amazing medal depicts a solitary soldier paying his respects to the fallen and its absolutely stunning. The ribbon has a Velcro join which allows it to be completely removed and the medal then stands upright on its bespoke base to create a truly beautiful tribute. We also have our annual Remembrance Day Run the following day on Sunday 8th November with its legendary 1inch thick, 1kg medal so why not make a weekend of it, come and do both events and earn yourself not one, but two truly epic bits of bling! This year's Lest We Forget is one of our timed events where you choose - from 5km to 10k, half to marathon to ultra, you can complete as many, or as few, laps as you like of a 5.3km, 3.28 mile, out and back, course along the beautiful river Thames. We welcome all abilities of runner - complete one lap and you're both a finisher and a winner in our eyes, or keep going and see how far you can get in the full 7 hour time limit and everyone gets the fabulous bespoke finishers' medal. We also operate our uniquely flexible 'rock up and run' start times within a 1.5 hour start window, so no waiting around if you arrive early and no added pressure if you're running a bit late. If you have any special start time requirements then just get in touch because depending on the distance you are planning to run we can pretty much accommodate all start time requests. Whilst Phoenix Running is very much about the bling and our medals are second to none, we're also acutely conscious that events can be expensive to enter and times are tough right now. We're now in our 11th year of fixed prices for our standard themed events, but to try and do our bit we're trailing a 'no medal' entry option at a flat £22. We cover our base costs, you get a run with all the usual Phoenix support, epic aid station, same day results published, athletes profiles, Phoenix World, digital BIBs, digital finishers certificates, etc, etc but without a medal we can keep the price low for this entry option. Not sure? Well the beauty of this format is that you don't even need to decide in advance - simply come and run a lap and see how you feel on the day and keep on going if it feels right. Places will be strictly limited so don't leave it too late to enter. Minimum distance is 3.28 miles or as far as you can go in 7 hours. Off road trail, the terrain is riverside towpath. The overall course has no elevation gain / loss making this a flat and fast route.

We're delighted to announce that our award winning Remembrance Day Marathon & Half Marathon event will be back again in 2026 for the 10th Edition of this legendary and ground breaking event. Now in its 10th year, we hope you'll consider joining us for a very special run indeed and yet again, we've added a Half Marathon specific distance too, so that even more of you can get your hands on our famous Remembrance Day medals. Trust us when we say that the 10th edition design is rather special in deed and is defiantly our best yet! Please note the entry fee is the same for both distances, and you'll be asked to marathon or half marathon as part of the entry process. The epic medal and awesome support are the same for everyone. In 2026, we're holding our annual Remembrance Day Marathon & Half Marathon on Remembrance Sunday 8th November. This event is literally built around a unique 'race freeze' at 11.00am, where, at the sound of the horn blast, all runners stop to observe a 2 minute silence, resuming their race at exactly 11.02am when we sound 3 blasts of the horns. Even if you're a fast half marathon runner and plan to have finished before 11am, why not stay around to pay your respects and absorb the unique atmosphere at 11.00am. An important note: This is not an event with a 2 minute silence put in it - this is a 2 minute silence with an entire marathon & half marathon event built around it. It is the very heart and soul of this event and the reason it exists. It is a very moving, spine tingling experience to be part of and in past years members of the public, walkers, cyclists and even rowers on the river have put their oars up and joined in. The medal? Well, let's just say these are EPIC! This event has always sold out in advance in previous years so please enter early. Places will be strictly limited. Off road trail, the terrain is riverside towpath – 4 out and back laps equal the full marathon distance and 2 out and back laps make up a half marathon distance. The overall course has no elevation gain / loss making this a flat and fast route.

Where is it? Salcey Forest is a Forestry England site with a café and toilets near Northampton. Use the post code NN7 2HX for Sat Navs . It is here  on What 3 Words. You do have to pay to park (we’ve negotiated a special offer of £3.50 for the day! We’ll send emails out to entrants to make this happen).  That said, be a hero and car share, save money and the world! The number 33 bus stops inside Salcey Forest (just after 9am) and goes between Northampton and Milton Keynes. It is 18 minutes from Northampton and 9 minutes from Junction 15 of the M1. The closest train station is Northampton. What’s a 6 hour event? I’ve made a short video here to try to explain a little. It is an event that enables all abilities of runner to run together (or hike/walk!). Ultimately you can run as many 5k laps as you wish in the time limit. You can run one lap in 20 minutes, pick up your medal, flapjack and beer and go home! Alternatively you can head out on your 15th lap at 14:55 and finish in 6:30 having covered over 50 miles! It’s completely up to you. There is no pressure from us, but we’ll also see if you want one more lap! The format is great for people looking to run further than they’ve ever done before, do a long training run for future events or to enjoy a sociable event with your friends. Can I run with my dog? Yes!! We’ve had great success at events with canicross and we’re pleased to add this event too. You must keep your leads short and be considerate of the other runners. We’ll start the canicross runners off with the main field. If your dog won’t respond well to this consider starting a few minutes later or don’t bring your dog. It’s important that the dogs, you and the other runners have a pleasent day! Please read our general canicross rules here. Please make sure you enter the canicross specific race when you click on the enter button above. Course description The route is along well maintained pathways. There isn't a meter of asphalt and the pathways are mainly crushed stone or very well trodden open forest floor. Obviously being in the middle of a forest the narrower ones are covered in tree detritus and can become a bit muddy and grimy, especially when wet. On a dry day road shoes will be perfectly acceptable, on a wet day trail shoes may be a better bet as some parts can become a bit slippy. What does it cost? We operate a tiered pricing approach. The earlier you enter, the cheaper the event but never ever will you pay a booking fee! Before 21/10/2025 £37 After 21/10/2025 £42 Unaffiliated entrants pay £2 extra. Why not join your local running club or sign up the Big Bear Brigade and save 10% off entries for ever! How far is the race? You decide! The 3.5-mile off-road loop means your race can be 5k or even over 80K and anywhere in between. You decide how many laps you're going to do on the day within the 6-hour time limit. If you're looking to cover a marathon distance you'll need to complete 7 laps (+ a little out and back) and a half marathon will be 4 laps (and a little long at 14 miles!). Do I have to raise money or run for charity? No… BUT! We have a great partnership with Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity. They provide specialist nurses and support for seriously ill children. There are currently over 200 Roald Dahl Nurses caring for more than 40,000 seriously ill children. During the sign up process you can opt to set up a Just Giving page to raise money for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity or to make a small donation alongside your entry fee - 100% of that goes straight to the charity to help with their amazing work. We want to help them towards making sure every seriously ill child has a Roald Dahl Nurse. If you want to find out a little more about our partnership click here. Has the event been run before? Yes. We’ve run at Salcey Forest many times in the past. You can view previous results and the course records here. I’m unsure what to expect at a 6 hour event? We’ve made some videos to try and help newcomers understand Big Bear Events and 6 hour events a little more here. We’ve got lots of videos on our You Tube channel that might help you see what we’re all about!. I’ve heard you do nice medals. What will it look like? Once it’s in our hands we’ll share the design with you! (You’ll love it though!) I’m not that fussed by a medal… In that case our partnership with Earth Runs will be perfect! Rather than give you a medal you don’t really want (and to help reduce waste) we’ll give you a Big Bear Tree Token. Not only will a tree be planted for each token given out but the token is also full of wildflower seeds for you to grow at home! Is there a gpx of the route? The route gpx can be found here or visit plotaroute.com here. The route may be subject to last minute changes and there will be plenty of markings up on race day so you do not need to have this - but I know some of you like to anyway! Is this event suitable for Rucking? Definitely! Read all about how we do rucking here (or if you’ve no idea what rucking is find out here too!) I really want to take part in the event but the day isn’t convenient for me! What can I do? We’ve partnered with our friends at Skamper to offer On-demand events! It’s not quite the same as being there on the day but it’s the next best thing! Using the Skamper app you can be directed around the route on a day of your choosing. When you sign up we’ll send you the medal in the post that was given out on the day of the event. This way when you finish you’ll be able to claim the medal you’ve earned for the run straight away! Why not load your car boot with snacks and goodies, get some mates to join you and have your own Big Bear event! Full details on our Big Bear On-Demand events is here. I still have questions… Then why not join our Big Bear Events Facebook group and ask our ever so experienced runners in there or email us directly here. We want you to enter with the confidence you’ll have a great (if not tiring!) day so are happy to answer any question we’ve not covered off here.

Accurately Measured & UKA Certified Route. This is a beautiful low key jaunt along the River Thames from Walton on Thames towards Hampton Court and back. Runners complete either 4 or 8 laps for the half marathon or marathon distance. This is half marathon and marathon race 3 in our Firebird four-race series 2024. Medals to all finishers. Places will be strictly limited so don't leave it too late to enter. Off road trail, the terrain is riverside towpath. The overall course has no elevation gain / loss making this a flat and fast route.

Phoenix Running is inviting you to join us for our annual Christmas 'Advent' run down on the towpath and everyone who runs and registers an interest will automatically go into our grand prize draw. Each year we hold a Christmas Advent prize draw via Facebook video at 7.30pm on 1st December where we give away some epic prizes. The medals will, of course, be awesome and everyone gets a chocolate advent calendar too! This is one of our timed events where you choose - from 5km to 10k, half to marathon to ultra, you can complete as many, or as few, laps as you like of a 5.3km, 3.28 mile, out and back, course along the beautiful river Thames. We welcome all abilities of runner - complete one lap and you're both a finisher and a winner in our eyes, or keep going and see how far you can get in the full 7 hour time limit and everyone gets the fabulous bespoke finishers' medal. We also operate our uniquely flexible 'rock up and run' start times within a 1 hour start window, so no waiting around if you arrive early and no added pressure if you're running a bit late. If you have any special start time requirements then just get in touch because depending on the distance you are planning to run we can pretty much accommodate all start time requests. Whilst Phoenix Running is very much about the bling and our medals are second to none, we're also acutely conscious that events can be expensive to enter and times are tough right now. We're now in our 9th year of fixed prices for our standard themed events, but to try and do our bit we have a 'no medal' entry option at a flat £22. We cover our base costs, you get a run with all the usual Phoenix support, epic aid station, same day results published, athletes profiles, Phoenix World, digital BIBs, digital finishers certificates, etc, etc but without a medal we can keep the price low for this entry option. Not sure? Well the beauty of this format is that you don't even need to decide in advance - simply come and run a lap and see how you feel on the day and keep on going if it feels right. Places will be strictly limited so don't leave it too late to enter. Minimum distance is 3.28 miles or as far as you can go in 7 hours. Off road trail, the terrain is riverside towpath. The overall course has no elevation gain / loss making this a flat and fast route.