Running Events, organisers of the Coatesville Half Marathon welcome walkers in all of our events, irrespective of the distance. Walkers routinely make up around 15-20% of the total field. We take the needs of our walkers seriously and have made changes to how our events operate to allow walkers to be appropriately recognised and accommodated. The notes on this page will help you, as a walker, to get the most from the event and help familiarise you with our setup for walkers.

When registering for a race distance which includes a competitive walk prize, you will be prompted to identify yourself as Runner, Hybrid Run/Walk or Competitive Walker. If you plan to walk most of the way but want to have the option to jog or run at any point, you should select the hybrid option. If you intend to walk throughout the event and want to measure yourself against other walkers, you should choose the Competitive Walk option.

Selected races at the Coatesville Half Marathon will have merit awards for competitive walkers. If you wish to compete for these awards, it is very important you follow all of the following rules. Failure to do so will mark you ineligible for the walking awards and – irrespective of the time you do – you will not be included in the competitive walk results listings or merit awards.

• Competitive Walk merit awards are available in the Half Marathon and 8k only in the Coatesville Half Marathon.
• You must identify yourself as a competitive walker when registering for the event or update your registration online prior to the close of online entries. You cannot make this change on race day. Race day entries for the Competitive Walk are not available.
• Competitive Walkers must start on the competitive walk starting signal. This is normally 3 minutes after the main race start – see the Race Day Schedule for more info. If you are registered in the competitive walk but start with the main field, you will be moved into the run event.

Unfortunately, we are not able to provide walking judges for our events. Therefore, we rely upon the integrity of those taking part to adhere to the rules of the walking competition and not run or jog at any time. In our experience over the years, we have found that the most common error in the walking competition is where people register as a competitive walker but decide to run on race day. We have worked around this issue by having a dedicated race start for walkers wherever there are Competitive Walk merit prizes at stake.
Important! We do not make judgement calls on disqualifications based on reports from other competitors. Unless advised otherwise by the competitor in question, we trust the integrity of our competitive walkers. In all cases, the Race Director’s decision shall be final.