Winchester Half Marathon 2026, Held 20 Sep: 21 Roads Shut

The Winchester Half Marathon is on Sunday 20 September 2026. The mass start is at 9am outside the Guildhall, and the closures that come with it start three hours before that. Hampshire County Council has made the order, so the times below are fixed rather than expected.

Twenty-one roads close and three more go one-way. The two that matter to almost everyone are The Broadway and the top of the High Street, which are shut from 6am until 3pm. Most of the rest reopen before lunch.

What is confirmed

• Date: Sunday 20 September 2026
• Half marathon mass start: 9am
• Kids Fun Run, 1km: 12.30pm
• Start and finish: outside the Guildhall, Winchester, SO23 9BA
• Organiser: Challenging Events

Those timings are the organiser’s own, from the Winchester Half Marathon event page, and Winchester City Council repeats them on its event listing, which puts entry at £33 to £38.

Every road closure, with its hours

All of these are for Sunday 20 September only. They come from Hampshire County Council’s temporary road restrictions notice for the event, made under section 16(A) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

Three roads stay open but run one way for a while:

• B3040 Romsey Road, between St James’ Lane and Sarum Road, eastbound only from 09:05 to 09:45.
• A3090 Main Road, between Sparsholt Road and Collins Lane, southbound only from 09:00 to 10:30.
• B3335 St Cross Road, between Lower Stanmore Lane and Five Bridges Road, southbound only from 09:35 to 12:00.

The order itself runs “from Sunday 20th September 2026 between the hours 06:00 to 15:00 for 1 day or until the event has ended, whichever is sooner”. It also promises that “reasonable facilities will be provided to allow access to adjacent premises while the event is taking place”, which in practice means marshals letting residents in and out between runners rather than free movement.

The pattern to plan around

Read the times as a wave. The city centre roads go first at 08:55, the western hill roads follow between 09:05 and 09:40 as the field spreads out, and everything outside the centre is back open by 12:15. Only the start and finish streets hold on until 3pm.

If you live on Ridgeway, Rooks Down Road, Ashbarn Crescent or Ivy Close, your window is roughly two hours in the middle of the morning. If you live on The Broadway, High Street or Colebrook Street, it is nine.

Parking, and the trap on Colebrook Street

Sunday is the cheap day to park in Winchester, which helps. All five Park and Walk car parks are free all day Sunday, including Chesil Street multi storey with its 616 spaces, and on-street bays are free too. The organiser’s own directions say there is “no official parking but multi storey car park 5mins walk from the start is free on Sundays”, which matches the council’s tariff.

The nine central car parks are not free. They charge Monday to Sunday, £2 for an hour and £7.30 for four. And Colebrook Street car park, 86 spaces, sits on a street that is closed from 6am to 3pm, so getting a car out of it during the race is not a plan. Our parking in Winchester page has the full tariff and the list of what is genuinely free.

Park and ride car parks are free on Sundays, but no park and ride buses run on a Sunday at all, so that is a walk into town rather than a ride.

What is still unclear

The closure order covers the city and the western fringe, out as far as Olivers Battery and Stanmore. The organiser’s route description also has runners going through Hursley, which is not in the order, so those roads stay open to traffic and are marshalled instead. The council has not published a spectator map, and the organiser’s route map is a downloadable course file rather than a road list.

For everything else moving on Winchester’s roads this month, see our roadworks and travel page.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Winchester Half Marathon 2026?

Sunday 20 September 2026. The mass start is at 9am outside the Guildhall, and the 1km Kids Fun Run follows at 12.30pm.

Which roads are closed for the Winchester Half Marathon?

Twenty-one roads. The Broadway, the top of the High Street and Colebrook Street are shut from 06:00 to 15:00. The rest close between 08:55 and 10:00 and reopen through the morning, with the last of them, The Square, back open at 12:50.

Can I drive through Winchester on the morning of the race?

Not through the centre between about 08:55 and 12:50. The county council’s order promises “reasonable facilities” for access to premises on closed roads, which means marshalled crossings rather than free movement. Three roads on the west side, Romsey Road, the A3090 Main Road and St Cross Road, stay open one way for part of the morning.

Where can I park for the Winchester Half Marathon?

The five Park and Walk car parks are free all day on a Sunday, and Chesil Street multi storey is the biggest at 616 spaces. The central car parks charge on Sundays. Avoid Colebrook Street car park, which is on a road closed until 3pm.

Sources

• Hampshire County Council public notice: temporary road restrictions, Winchester Half Marathon
• Challenging Events: Winchester Half Marathon
• Winchester City Council event listing
• Winchester City Council parking charges
• Winchester City Council park and ride FAQs