Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026
Run this stunning 13.1 mile route that takes in many of the capital’s world-famous landmarks on closed roads and through four of London’s Royal Parks!
Date: Sunday 11th October 2026
Location: London
Fundraising: £35 registration fee, with a pledge to raise £350
Royal Parks Half Marathon Route
Run on closed roads with a festival atmosphere, the Royal Parks Half Marathon is a landmark day for both runners and supporters alike!
This stunning course threads its way through the beauty and majesty of four Royal Parks and past historic landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards Parade, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Kensington Palace.
Starting in Hyde Park, you’ll run through the heart of London’s city streets before making your way back to the beautiful Royal Parks, including Serpentine Road, the loudest and thrilling cheer mile you’ll ever hear. And you’ll cross the finish line in front of two iconic London landmarks – The Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall.
Although there are some gentle undulations it’s a generally flat course, making it fantastic for both beginners and experienced runners.
Apply for a Rising Sun place
We have a limited number of charity places in Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026, which will be allocated by application process. We recommend you apply early to avoid disappointment. Please complete an application as fully as possible, and we will be in touch with all applicants to let them know the outcome.
By applying for a Rising Sun charity place, you must pledge to raise at least £350 (before Gift Aid) in sponsorship and we only accept applications from UK residents. A non-refundable registration fee of £35 will be payable to Rising Sun to secure your Rising Sun charity place if you are successful!
Every £25 that you raise for Rising Sun could pay for a woman to receive a specialist 1:1 counselling session to help them rebuild their life after experiencing domestic abuse.
Run with your own place
If you’ve already secured, or are planning to secure your own place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon ballot, we’d love for you to use your place to fundraise for Rising Sun to support women and child living with domestic abuse in your community, by setting up a JustGiving page today! Every £200 you raise could pay for a woman to attend a 10-week support group to rebuild their life following an abusive relationship.
Run for survivors of domestic abuse
Each year we must raise £1.7m to provide all of our services free of charge to those who need us most across Canterbury, Ashford and Folkestone & Hythe. By raising sponsorship for your Royal Parks Half Marathon you can ensure victim-survivors are listened to, believed and can access the specialist services they need to live safely and rebuild their lives.
Your fundraising could help us:
- £10 could stock a bag of necessities for a woman fleeing domestic abuse
- £25 could pay for a woman to attend a specialist 1:1 counselling session
- £30 could pay for a child to attend a supported activity day during the school holidays
- £50 could pay for a young people to receive a specialist 1:1 counselling session
- £60 could pay for a woman to attend our supportive weekly drop-in café for ten weeks
- £200 could pay for a woman to attend a 10-week support group to rebuild their life
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s great to hear that you’d like to challenge yourself to complete Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026 for Rising Sun, thank you so much.
We have a limited number of charity places available in the event, and we are recruiting runners through an application process. We have chosen an application process for this event due to the expected popularity of these places, and the commitment that comes with running Royal Parks Half Marathon for a charity.
We are accepting applications for Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026 from today. Our fundraising team will then assess the applications received and will get in touch with everyone who applied. If successful, a non-refundable registration fee of £50 will be payable to Rising Sun to secure your place.
When you register for a Rising Sun charity place in Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026, you must pledge to raise at least £350 (before Gift Aid) in sponsorship to victim-survivors of domestic abuse in Canterbury, Ashford and Folkestone & Hythe.
We only accept applications from UK residents.
Absolutely! If you’ve already secured your place in Royal Parks Half Marathon, you can start fundraising for Rising Sun with your place by opening a JustGiving page and sharing it with friends, family and your community.
Every £10 you raise could help us to provide a bag of essentials to a woman fleeing domestic abuse.
When fundraising for Rising Sun, please follow our Fundraising Terms and Conditions.
We have put an application process in place for our charity places in Royal Parks Half Marathon as we expect to receive a significant amount of interest in our limited number of places. As we have such a limited number of places in the event, just 4 in fact, we want to ensure that the runners we recruit are committed to training and completing Royal Parks Half Marathon, as well as raising the minimum pledge of £350 (before Gift Aid).
In the applications, we will be looking for supporters who are passionate about the work of Rising Sun and VAWG, as well as have the support to raise £350 plus in sponsorship for their challenge.
If you have any questions about the process, please get in touch with our fundraising team at fundraising@risingsunkent.com.
Yes! Our lovely community fundraiser will support you all the way through your training and fundraising for Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026. They will offer you training tips, as well as tips and tricks for raising sponsorship through your community of friends, family and colleagues. We’ve popped a few tips below to get you started:
- Create a JustGiving page and share, share, share!
- Share why you’re running Royal Parks Half Marathon and why you’ve chosen to support Rising Sun
- Host events (quiz nights, raffles, bake sales etc.)
- Print off sponsorship forms and pop them in your office at work!
- Tell everyone and anyone that you’re taking part in Royal Parks Half Marathon for Rising Sun
- Keep sharing updates of your training and fundraising
- Say THANK YOU to your generous supporters!
Thank you so much for fundraising for Rising Sun through Royal Parks Half Marathon, we’re so grateful for your support!
JustGiving: If you’ve opened a JustGiving page, this money will be sent directly to Rising Sun on a regular basis. There’s nothing more you need to do!
Cheque/Cash: If you’ve fundraised by collecting cash or using a sponsorship form, you can either transfer the funds via bank transfer or by posting us a cheque for your totalled amount. You can make a cheque payable to Rising Sun Domestic Violence and Abuse Service and post it to: PO Box 1229, Canterbury, CT1 9TZ.
If you’d like to transfer funds by bank transfer, please call the fundraising team on 01227 452852 or email us on fundraising@risingsunkent.com and we’ll let you know the necessary details.
When fundraising, don’t forget to ask your generous friends & family to Gift Aid their donation to help us raise an additional 25% from their donation, at no cost to themselves!
Through registering for a Rising Sun charity place in Royal Parks Half Marathon 2026 you are pledging to raise a minimum of £350 (before Gift Aid), this enables Rising Sun to cover the cost for your place as well as a significant donation to support survivors of domestic abuse.
Did you know that 25% of fundraising is donated once you’ve completed the event! This is why we give all of our fundraisers a month post-event to continue fundraising.
In the run up to your event, our community fundraiser will be on hand to support you in reaching your fundraising goal and will be there to support you with any questions.
When registering for a Rising Sun place in the event, you agreed to Rising Sun’s fundraising terms and conditions, which allows Rising Sun to withdraw your place in the event if you fail to meet your fundraising obligations.
Many employers offer a match funding scheme, this means that they will match your fundraising efforts. Therefore, if you raise £100 for Rising Sun, they’ll also donate £100 to Rising Sun – equalling £200!!
When taking part in a fundraising event, it’s always worth asking your employer if they offer a match funding scheme to help you increase your fundraising.
Absolutely!
To help you spread the word about your incredible fundraising efforts for Rising Sun, you can download one of our branded sponsorship forms to share with your friends, family and colleagues.
Please be sure to ask your kind supporters to tick Gift Aid to raise an additional 25%!