Team Marathon

Team Marathon comes to Hackney Wick on Saturday 22 May 2027, starting at 1:00pm with staggered waves throughout the afternoon. It's a marathon distance—26.2 miles—but instead of one person tackling it alone, you do it as a team of four. Each person runs a 10.55km leg, and you run them together, side by side, at your own pace. Your four individual chip times are then combined to make the team's overall marathon time.

It's a different take on the distance. Rather than a relay where you tag in and out, you start and run together, so it's more of a shared experience than a solitary performance. The course is a short circuit of grass and paths around a central festival village, so you're never far from the hub. Inside that village, there are live music stages, DJs, a brass band, cheer zones, big screens and street food from local London spots. It's as much a day out as it is a race.

The event is the brainchild of Benchmark, the team behind the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay. They've staged 86 of those relays since 2008, with more than 100,000 people taking part, and London is meant to be the first of three UK city events they're planning for 2027. They pitch it as a social alternative to the conventional individual marathon: for runners who care about the clock but would rather running be a shared experience than a solitary one.

It's in Hackney Wick, East London (E20 1DY), and the whole thing kicks off from 1:00pm with waves throughout the afternoon. A team ticket is £36 and covers all four runners, with the option to split the remaining payments over three months.