The Windsor Half Marathon starts on the Long Walk at 10am on Sunday 27 September 2026. Entry is £44, park roads shut until 1pm, and on-site parking is free.

The Windsor Half Marathon is on Sunday 27 September 2026, and the race starts at 10am on the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. Entries were still open when we checked on 5 September. The organiser’s own line is that the race “takes place annually on the last Sunday in September” (runwindsor.com).

The single fact most people arrive looking for: the roads that close are inside Windsor Great Park, not in Windsor town. The race FAQ puts it plainly, that “the roads are closed with in Windsor Great Park until 1pm after which the roads will be open” (Windsor Half Marathon FAQs). Thames Street, the High Street and the bridge are unaffected. What you will meet in town is traffic, because 6,000 runners and their families are driving to the same gate.

The confirmed detail

Status on 5 September 2026
Date Sunday 27 September 2026
Start 10am, Long Walk, Windsor Great Park
Sprite Sprint 9am, ages 5 to 9, about 40 metres on the grass
Distance 13.1 miles, two laps, all on tarmac
Entry £44 standard, £42 UKA club member, £48 overseas
Field limit 6,000, no waiting list
Event postcode SL4 2BD for sat nav, then follow the AA signs
Parking Free, on site, for runners and spectators
Roads Closed inside Windsor Great Park until 1pm

Entries: two closing dates are published, and they disagree

This is worth knowing before you leave it to the last minute. The race FAQ says entries “will remain open until midnight on the 26th September”. The entry system itself, EntryHub, prints “Entries close 25th September 2026” against every option (EntryHub). Treat Friday 25 September as the deadline and you cannot be caught out.

The prices differ too. The race entry page lists a £42 UKA club member rate alongside the £44 standard entry (Race entry), but EntryHub offers only three products: Half Marathon UK Entry at £44, Corporate Challenge at £44 and Overseas Entry at £48. There is no club rate visible in the checkout. If you are claiming it, phone the hotline on 01782 388128 first.

Race numbers are posted out about three weeks before the day. If yours has not arrived by the weekend of 20 September, go to the Administration Marquee early on race morning and they will reissue the number and the timing chip.

Race morning

  • Arrive an hour before your start. The organisers ask for this in writing, and add half an hour on top if it is raining, because the grass parking gets slower.
  • The cut-off for starting is 10.10am. The entry terms say that after that you must ask a race marshal for permission; the FAQ is blunter and says you will not be allowed to start.
  • Water stations are at 2.25, 4, 6.5 and 9 miles, and at the finish. Toilets and first aid are at every one of them.
  • There is no finish cut-off, but from 1pm the park roads reopen to traffic.
  • No dogs, no pushchairs, no gazebos and no barbecues anywhere on the site.
  • There are no showers and no changing facilities. There is a staffed baggage marquee.

The course is two laps, roughly four miles and then seven and a half, with the 1.5-mile Long Walk making up the start and finish. Part of it runs on Crown Estate private road that is open only on race day, so you cannot recce the whole route beforehand.

Getting there, and the train that does run

Drive and you will be directed by AA signs from the A332 at the Heatherwood roundabout. The car parks are free to both runners and spectators, in the Deer Park on grass, and are used at your own risk. There is a marked wheelchair parking area, though the surface there is long grass.

By rail, the two Windsor stations are Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor Riverside, and it is about a mile on foot from either: up the High Street into Park Street, through the castle gates and down the Long Walk to the start.

Network Rail has been closing the Slough to Windsor branch on autumn weekends, so this matters. Its release of 21 August names the closures as Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September, and Sunday 20 September, and then says of race day that “services between Reading and London Paddington will also be amended on Sunday 27 September, although trains between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central will operate normally on that date” (Network Rail, 21 August 2026). So the Windsor shuttle runs. It is the approach from Reading and Paddington that is on an amended timetable.

What has not been published yet

  • The 2026 runner information pack. The organiser’s site still offers the “2025 Runners booklet”, and the FAQ that tells you where to park points at that pack for the car park map.
  • A transfer deadline for 2026. The FAQ answer on transferring an entry still gives “30th August 2024”, which has been wrong for two years.

We will update this page in the week before the race, once the 2026 pack and the final car park directions are out.

Before you set off, our Windsor roadworks and travel page carries the week’s closures and rail works, and parking in Windsor has the town car park tariffs if you decide to park in Windsor and walk up the Long Walk rather than drive into the park.

Frequently asked questions

What time does the Windsor Half Marathon start?

10am on Sunday 27 September 2026, on the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park. The Sprite Sprint for 5 to 9 year olds goes first, at 9am. If you arrive after 10.10am you have to ask a race marshal whether you can start at all.

Which roads close for the Windsor Half Marathon?

Only the roads inside Windsor Great Park, and they reopen at 1pm. Windsor town centre is not closed. Part of the course uses a Crown Estate private road that is open to the race and to nobody else.

Is parking free at the Windsor Half Marathon?

Yes, for runners and spectators alike. The car parks are on grass inside the Deer Park and are used at your own risk. Set the sat nav to SL4 2BD and then follow the AA signs, and allow an extra half hour if it is raining.

Can I still enter the Windsor Half Marathon?

Entries were open on 5 September. EntryHub gives the closing date as 25 September 2026 and the race FAQ says midnight on the 26th, so work to the 25th. The field is capped at 6,000 and there is no waiting list.

Do the trains to Windsor run on race day?

Yes. Network Rail closed the Slough to Windsor branch on several September weekends but says trains between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central “will operate normally” on Sunday 27 September. The Reading to Paddington service is on an amended timetable that day.

Sources