Pure Running Half Marathon Series 2018 in association with ChampionChip Ireland, Athletics NI and www.nirunning.co.uk:

Northern Ireland’s longest running race Series celebrates its tenth year with Pure Running continuing as the main sponsor.

The prize structure has been retained and the number of races required to count in the categories is still 6 races to be completed from the 10, with 3 from the first half and 3 from the second.

When the Series began in 2009 there were 6 races and they attracted just over 5600 entrants, the following year had 7 races and just over 7000 entrants.  In 2011 there were 6 races again but the entrants continued to flock in and there were over 1000 entrants on average for each race.  Then in 2012 the Series expanded to 8 races and the 8000 mark was exceeded comfortably.  2013 saw 10 races in the Series and just short of 9000 took part with 18 runners completing all 10.

In 2017, the number of participants was over 10000 for the first time with the inclusion of the Belfast City Half Marathon.

Michael Jenkins has been a supporter of the Half Marathon Series since its inception in 2009 and continues to do so with his Pure Running brand www.purerunning.co.uk.  Pure Running is the chief sponsor along with ChampionChip Ireland, Athletics NI and Northern Ireland Running (www.nirunning.co.uk)

Only Angus McCready from Antrim has completed all 78 races in the Series, which is even more remarkable considering he was working and living in England for some time.

The Series begins with the traditional DUNE Half Marathon race from Newry to Dundalk in mid-February.

The races for the Pure Running Half Marathon Series 2018 are:

Sunday 11^th February 2018 – DUNE Cross Border Half Marathon (from Newry to Dundalk)

Saturday 24^th March 2018 – AES Larne Half Marathon

Sunday 27^th May 2018 – Newry Half Marathon

Wednesday 20^th June 2018 – Lisburn Half Marathon

Friday 29^th June 2018 – Ards Half Marathon

This completes the first set, runners must record a finishing time in at least 3 of these races.

July (Date TBC) – Dervock Half Marathon

July (Date TBC) – Cookstown Half Marathon

August (Date TBC) – Groomsport Half Marathon

Saturday 18^th August 2018 – Born 2 Run Dambusters Half Marathon

October (Date TBC) – Monaghan Festival Half Marathon

Runners must complete at least 6 races from the series with at least 3 from the first set and 3 from the second set. 

The prize fund remains the same as 2017 but runners must complete all the races in the Series to be awarded a special garment at the end.

The cumulative times of each competitor will be taken to calculate the rank in each category.  If a competitor finishes in more than 6 races then their best 6 times will be used provided they still have completed 3 races from the first half of races and 3 from the second set of races.  A competitor will stay in the age group they ran in at their first race.  Where two or more competitors have the same cumulative time at the end then their fastest time in any race will be used as a tie break.

Athletics NI will provide a page on its web site with regular updates on the leaders in each category and news of the Series.  Competitors are required to register their time through an online form on the Athletics NI site so that their progress can be logged and ranks accurately recorded.  A runner who fails to register their times through the ANI site could be overlooked when the final prizes are awarded as it’s difficult to accurately log all the times from 10000 entrants across the Series.

The prize structure is shown below.  Prizes will be in the form of vouchers from Pure Running.